Blackberries Yusef Komunyakaa Analysis

Caught in the middle of innocence and guilt, a young boy is ambivalent between hope and reality after merely picking berries. The poem "Blackberries" by Yusef Komunyakaa, published in 1992, illustrates the author's childhood experience in a candid yet heartbreaking image. Komunyakaa frankly describes his struggle growing up; additionally during a specific day picking blackberries to raise money in hopes of a better future Komunyakaa is painfully reminded of his less fortunate beginnings. Through a series of allusions and metaphors, Komunyakaa's "Blackberries" displays an unsettling theme that humanity's impact on the future is halted proportionately to our unchangeable history. For example, Komunyakaa states "They left my hands like a printer's
Unfortunately the author gets hurt in the process of understanding his limits when he remembers his "fingers / Burning with thorns among berries too ripe to touch" (23-24). The author utilizes overripe berries amid thorns to illustrate a opportunity that is heavily-protected within society through economical and cultural boundaries. Furthermore, while the background of the two children in the vehicle is not stated, one can predict they are from a predominantly well-off Caucasian background due to having the luxury of a "big blue car" (19) with a "wide back seat" (22). Originally Komunyakaa is portrayed to be equal when he states that "The damp ground was consecrated" (5) meaning he was innocent and pure, far from sins or unpleasant feelings. However when we combine the holy ground with the "garland of thorns" (6) we understand that the garland is referring to Jesus' crown during his crucifixion, and the thorns later on sting the author back into reality. This representation of the thorns being reality is crucial because it dictates while something may seem pleasant, the most seemingly pleasant things might cause the most