"Plum Plum Picker" by Raymond Barrios

 Cyntia Brunot
Ryan Gallagher
English 12 C.P
21 October 2010      

“Plum Plum Pickers” by Raymond Barrios

                                                                      In the passage Plum Pickers”, Raymond Barrios suggests that a social caste or system will affect a person’s view on life and how they react to certain situations. For example Manuel, am man who picks fruits on a field, is on the bottom of the social caste, while Roberto Morals and the white people are superior towards Manuel

                                                          In the beginning of “Plum Plum Pickers”, Manuel compares himself to a trapped animal in a field of apricot trees that remind him of “the blackest bars on the jails of hell” (91). Through this sentence Barrio viewed Manuel as an animal trapped by the superior and forced to work on this field. Another view is of this comparison is Manuel is treated as an animal, which puts him on the bottom of the social caste, because he’s not treated as an human being.

                       

                                        Later on in “Plum Plum Pickers” a man name Roberto Morales claims there was a miscalculation and needs to take two cents from every picker buckets. Taking two cents from Manuel was taking most of his hard earned money. This is another example of Raymond Barrio’s idea of a social caste while Roberto Morales and the white people live in a pain, carefree life, Manuel on the other hand must work twice as hard to survive. During the confrontation of Manuel and Roberto Morales, Raymond Barrio, describes this situation as animals in the jungle. Roberto Morales was studying Manuel’s weakness as if he was a predator and Manuel was a prey’s his idea of predator verses prey in other words the food chain connects to the main idea of the social caste within the environment Manuel has adapted to.

                                                         During the last paragraphs within “Plum Plum Pickers” Manuel finally has the courage to stand up for other more important stand up for him. This shows the downfall of the social system within his work environment. Manuel has had enough of brutality and abuse of power  from Roberto Morales and the superior white people and it has cause him to stand up for himself and has resulted to him standing up for others. Once the people who are label inferior to the superior on the social caste have had enough, the superior realized them to can climb to the top of the social caste system.

                                                                           

Ovid's D.J's

'Men call the Icarian now. And Daedalus
Father no more, called "Icarus, where are you!
Where are you, Icarus? Tell me where to find you!"
And saw thw wings on the waves, and crused his talents,
Buried the body in a tomb, and the land
Was named for Icarus"

- the sea icarus fell in, men named it after for him(honor?)
why would they name the sea after him?
- Daealus is trying to find his son
Did her hear icarus saying "where are you?"
-So he had to bury his son
was there a furneral?

Blog Assignment # 2: Bruegel's "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus"

In the picture” Landscape of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel. I see many things throughout the painting. I see many cool colors as in blue and green and warm colors as in yellow and red. In the painting I see trees but what stuck out to me is that the trees are appearing to be black, and so are the little bushes around the coast line of the water. I see cliffs and landscapes. One part if the picture I see an distant island. I see the water and some parts of the water things seem to be appearing out of the water. I see a person doing landscaping with appears to be horse or mule. I see legs sticking out of the water and feathers in the air and water. I see sheep and a man leading them and next to the man I think it appears to be a dog. I see a ship and the ship’s sails. I see the little yellow from a distant. From the distant I see a village maybe and within the village looks likes buildings and houses. I see dirt on the ground. I see two ships, and one of them id from a distant and one’s up close. I see he sky and the colors. In the middle it’s yellow from the sun, but on the sides its blue mixed with white. On the left side of the water there’s a brown rocks there, and I see a hole which looks like an entryway. I see green grass along with the dirt. In se white ripples in the blue/green water. Behind the clouds in the sky I see mountains with a pointy top. I see the man leading the ship looking up to the sky as if he is seeing something. The man leading the sheep is holding a brown bag on his back. It looks like the ships are heading to the little village. Within the sheep are see three brown little animals. I see white strands on the right side of the painting. On the left side of the painting I see flowers near the horse or mules and a little green/black plant. The man leading the horse or mule is wearing red which stands out to me within the whole painting, the man is wearing brown stockings and a light mint green shawl and a dress, and also he is wearing black shoes. The horse or mule has a saddle on its back. The green/blue water is sort of see through. It looks like to me the man ,leading the sheep is going somewhere by the looks of the sheep going into an area, and some are going in a different directions, but he can’t tell because he’s distracted. The island from the distant appears t have something on it. It looks stranded. The man leading the sheep is holding a staff. On the left side of the painting I see birds on the cliff and below the cliff.

Letters to Mr.Gallagher

I was born is Rhode Island and raised in Malden for two years , then moved to Revere and spent 13 years of my life there. I speak English but understand a little bit of creole My parents are from Haiti, but most people first impression of me is that I’m just African American, as in just black, because the way I look and talk and also dress. As a reader I love to read certain books like about people around my age, tragic, drama and other stuff. My favorites’ authors are Judy Bloom and Sharon G. flake. They write about topics I can relate too. As a writer I’m okay but I don’t answer the question if asked. Sometimes I don’t know how to begin an essay or a paragraph. Honestly I love English sometimes. I learned new things I haven’t before. As a student I sometimes slack off but when something has to be done or a deadline is coming up, I’ll get right on my work. As a friend I expect then to be honest even when it’s harsh or I don’t want to hear it, because I’ll end up appreciating them for that. I sometimes contradict myself because I’m afraid of being honest to them. I’m afraid of losing my friendship with them. As a thinker sometimes relax by myself and just think. I wonder on topics on if I’m going to be here tomorrow or how my life is is going to end up and will I find love. Well this is half the story about me.