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Doris Buchanan SmithA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
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The book’s title signifies an important symbol in A Taste of Blackberries. Blackberries symbolize natural cycles in addition to seasons: They represent the cycle of life and death and the cycle of grief. The book begins and ends in the blackberry patch. At the beginning, the narrator and Jamie plan to pick blackberries. When they get to the patch, they realize that the berries “need a few more days to ripen” (1). Just like these berries, the narrator must take time to grieve before he can start healing. No one, including him, can reach a point of acceptance before it’s time; the cycle must be completed.
Another cycle that blackberries symbolize is the cycle of life. By the end of the book, the berries are ready to be picked. When the narrator moves to pick some of them, he sticks his finger on the leaves and acknowledges, “Getting stuck was a part of berry picking” (78). Similarly, pain is a natural part of life.
The narrator’s favorite color is blue, and this color appears in the book at moments of crisis. The first time it’s mentioned is immediately after the narrator learns of Jamie’s death. He goes outside and wonders if the world knows about his friend’s death; the sky is blue and beautiful that day. At this point in the book, the narrator is upset by anything and anyone behaving normally when his life feels anything but normal.
Blue is mentioned again when the narrator sneaks into Mrs. Mullins’s garden. Desperate to feel alone, he thinks he’ll be calmed by the variety of flowers: “My favorite of all was the bright blue raggedy cornflower” (57). Soon, Mrs. Mullins appears in the garden too and has a meaningful conversation with him, one that helps him move forward in life.
Finally, blue makes an appearance at Jamie’s funeral. There are pale blue flowers on the casket, and the pastor has “some blue stripes in his tie that exactly [match] the flowers on the top of the casket. The matching blues [hold the narrator’s] attention over the droning of [the pastor’s] words” (72). The narrator’s relationship with the color blue evolves over the course of the book, just like his relationship with grief.
One way the narrator copes after Jamie’s death is by taking baths and thinking about his friend. In the tub, he makes ripples. He notices that “[t]he ring of ripples broaden[s], bounce[s] off the side of the tub and, larger still, [comes] toward [him] again” (45). He recalls that someone told him that ripples continue on “forever and ever, even when you can’t see them anymore” (45). These ripples symbolize the narrator’s friendship with Jamie. Even though Jamie isn’t alive anymore, their friendship will always endure. Not even death can change the power of their bond. Thus, the ripples represent the enduring power of friendship and community.