Dialogue Much of what we learn about Lemon Brown emerges from the conversation that he and Greg have before and after they chase the thugs away from the abandoned house. Myers uses dialogue to deliver the words of the characters as people might actually say them in real life. This helps the reader observe the…
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The Treasure of Lemon Brown – Themes
Fathers and Sons The story opens with Greg avoiding his father and ends with him eagerly returning home to him. Meeting Lemon Brown, who defines his treasure as what a man ‘‘can pass on to his son,’’ changes Greg’s estimation of his father. Lemon’s fatherly guidance and protection during the encounter with the thugs opens…
The Treasure of Lemon Brown – Characters
Jesse Brown Jesse Brown is the deceased son of Lemon Brown. When Jesse was little, Lemon traveled around playing the blues in order to support Jesse and his mom. After the death of Lemon’s wife, Jessewasraised by his aunt. Lemon tells Greg that ‘‘when the war come, he saw fit to go off and fight…
The Treasure of Lemon Brown – Story – Summary
‘‘The Treasure of Lemon Brown’’ opens with a disappointed young man, Greg Ridley, sitting on the front steps of his apartment building in Harlem, New York. A storm is coming, and the narrative emphasizes that the dark weather and emerging winds reflect Greg’s own frustrated mood. The story almost immediately flashes back to a scene…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Analysis
‘‘The test of a round character,’’ asserts British writer E. M. Forster in Aspects of the Novel ‘‘is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never surprises, it is flat.’’ Forster, himself a novelist, raises an interesting question. ‘‘Round characters’’ may be the ones that surprise, engage, and convince fiction…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Setting
Meiji Era of Japanese History In 1868, political power in Japan underwent a significant shift. For centuries before that, control over Japanese affairs rested in the hands of a central military leader known as a shogun who in turn controlled a feudal-style samurai class of local warrior rulers. The revolution that began in the 1860s…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Literary Devices
Historical Fiction ‘‘Tears of Autumn’’ was published in 1987 but the story takes place more than a half a century earlier. When the story was published as the opening chapter of Uchida’s novel Picture Bride , Uchida inserted the dates 1917–1918 to identify the story’s exact historical setting. Because the story dramatizes the experiences that…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Themes
Coming of Age Hana’s decision to leave her family behind illustrates her desire to act and be treated as an adult. She takes responsibility for the consequences of her decision to leave Japan and marry Taro. Though her and Taro’s families played a role in arranging the marriage, Hana recognizes that it was her idea…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Characters
Hana Omiya Hana Omiya, the protagonist of the story, is a twenty-year-old woman who is leaving Japan for the United States in the early twentieth century. Just prior to her departure, she lives in Oka Village with her mother, older sister, and brother-inlaw. Life in Oka has seemed oppressive for her ever since she graduated…
Tears of Autumn by Yoshiko Uchida – Summary
‘‘Tears of Autumn’’ begins with young Hana Omiya standing on the deck of a steamship making its way from Japan to the United States through a ‘‘turbulent November sea.’’ Rather than being excited about the arrival in America, Hana wishes she were not going. She is seasick and nervous, and her thoughts lead her back…