Strawberry Girl

“Although she was only seven, she was not afraid of her father.”

This first characterization of Essie as courageous in the face of her formidable father is important because it introduces the foreshadowed conflict with her father. It also foreshadows that antagonists can be made more powerful by fear, but they can also be taken down by courage.

“The woman and children plowed the loose, dry sand with their bare feet. With each step forward, they seemed to slip a trifle backward, so their progress was slow. Bushy scrub oaks and a thicket of palmetto grew on the far side of the rough path, while a forest of tall pines rose in the distance.”

Mrs. Slater and her younger children are characterized by their poverty and heaviness. Their bare feet signify their poverty, and the imagery of their “plowing” through the sand suggests the heavy burden of their poverty. The slowness of their progress is mirrored in the unforgiving and spindly characterization of the natural plants and the setting around them.

“The two little girls sat down on the top step. Birdie began to comb out their short, straggly hair. Combed smooth, it looked soft and pretty, curling up at the ends. In the bright sunshine, it shone like warm, glistening silver. Birdie brought the washbasin and washed their thin, pale faces.”

In this quote, Birdie is characterized as being empathetic, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. Birdie washes and brushes the younger Slater children because she is a person who extends kindness and generosity. Birdie wants to build community, and she takes action to make the Slater children feel that she cares about them.

In this quote, Birdie is characterized as being empathetic, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. Birdie washes and brushes the younger Slater children because she is a person who extends kindness and generosity. Birdie wants to build community, and she takes action to make the Slater children feel that she cares about them.

In this quote, Birdie is characterized as being empathetic, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. Birdie washes and brushes the younger Slater children because she is a person who extends kindness and generosity. Birdie wants to build community, and she takes action to make the Slater children feel that she cares about them.

“‘Ain’t he?’ Shoestring looked at her earnestly. ‘I want to tell you somethin’. Do your Pa fence his fields in, my Pa will make trouble for him. I jest want you to know, that’s all.’”

Shoestring warns Birdie about his father’s temper and aggression. Shoestring’s earnestness in this quote highlights that not only is the threat about his father real, but also that Shoestring is himself kind and unlike his father. He wants to protect Birdie from his father, which shows that he too is characterized as kind and generous in his own way.

“‘Shucks, no!’ answered Birdie with a laugh. ‘We’re shore ‘nough Crackers! We was born in Marion County. We’re jest the same as you-all.’”

In this quote, Birdie relies on the term “Cracker” to identify herself. She wants to fit in with the others and prove that she is like them. This proves that Birdie is proud of her family’s identity, even if it implies that they are poor or uneducated. For Birdie, being a Cracker is a source of pride that evokes her family’s strong work ethic, fortitude, and self-sufficient relationship with the land.

“The congregation kept singing all day long. Nobody had to sit through it all. People kept going in and coming out. They sat or stood and talked in the yard, then came in and sang till they were tired and went out again…It was a good time to visit friends and to make new ones. And the best thing about it was the organ music and the singing which kept on and on. Birdie talked to some of the girls she had met at school, and felt as if she had always known them.”

In this quote, Lenski highlights the importance of community. The congregation in this quote is a representation of the larger community who come together to support one another. The singing in this quote is a symbol of a communal voice empowering the community. Also notable is that Birdie feels that she belongs, which is a new development after having been perceived as an outsider by the other girls at school.

“‘Wal—round here, a shotgun’s more useful than the law, and handier, too!’ Slater laughed.”

Mr. Slater’s comfort with referring to guns as his mode of justice is indicative of his antagonism. This quote is also important because it highlights that in rural, unsettled Florida, there is no overarching institution of law that provides the foundation for how people treat one another. This means that people have to trust in and deal with each other in their own, hopefully moral, ways.

“He was trying to fix things up. All at once her black hate melted away and she liked him again. She was able to forgive him for the snake on her hat. She decided not to fight him for the snake. He only did it in fun anyhow. He had not meant to hurt or frighten her.”

This quote characterizes Birdie as compassionate and forgiving. She doesn’t hold a grudge against others because she looks for the root reasons for their behavior. To Birdie, Shoestring is sometimes annoying but mostly a good friend. She chooses to see the good in him.

“The pale green milky-looking cane juice poured out slowly into a barrel on the other side. Flies began to come, attracted by its sweetness. Like the flies, children and grown-ups came too, all eager to taste.”

The cane juice is a symbol of community building and happiness. Rural life can be bleak and difficult, but the ceremony and celebration around cane juicing is a bright spot for the entire community. The sweetness of the candy is a metaphor for the good feelings brought on by camaraderie, community building, and respite.

“‘You’ve no tight to cut off my right o’ way!’ answered Slater. ‘We’ve always lived there, me and my Pa and my Grandpa before me! Grandpa was an old Indian fighter and he come there right after the Seminole War! We’ve always had the use of all that land for pasture, for moss pickin’ and frog huntin’ and anything else we want. You got no right to fence it up!’”

This quote characterizes Mr. Slater through his relationship with history and his aversion to change. Mr. Slater grew up in a Florida that was so unsettled that land was unowned and shared. Now that times are changing and land is being parceled into plots of ownership, Mr. Slater has a difficult time accepting that his life must necessarily change. He believes that he is entitled to use the land he wants, which is the source of his antagonism toward the Bayer family.

“So many families were growing berries, it had been decided to give the children their vacation in the three winter months—the strawberry season—so they could pick berries. Throughout the strawberry area, the schools were soon to become known as ‘Strawberry Schools.’”

This quote highlights the historical importance of the novel and of the rural communities that helped to settle Florida. Everybody pitches in during strawberry season because that’s how important the crop is. This also demonstrates that children are treated as valuable members of their families because their labor helps to keep the family successful.

“Birdie was sick at heart. They had worked so hard over the berries. It seemed cruel to lose them just as they were ripening.”

This quote emphasizes the challenge of rural farm life. Birdie works very hard to keep the strawberries healthy, but there are so many elements that she can’t be in control of. The cruelty of farm life is heightened by the loss of Birdie’s hard work.

“Birdie had stood by and watched it all. She knew how much her father loved animals and insisted on proper care and feed for them—even if they were not his own. She herself could not bear to see an animal suffer without wanting to help it. She wanted the poor cow to be taken care of, after its narrow escape. But she also knew that the Slaters would never forgive Pa for whipping Shoestring. It would be harder than ever to be friends with him after this.”

In this quote, Lenski emphasizes the value and respect that farmers should give to animals. It also reveals a major shift in the plot: There is no coming back from whipping another person’s child. Shoestring’s humiliation and physical beating represent the many times that he is held responsible for his father’s antagonism.

“They all called her Strawberry Girl and said the berries were extra good.”

This quote reveals the source of the novel’s title. The novel is titled in honor of Birdie, identifying her through her relationship with her work and land. This emphasizes Birdie as the central protagonist and hero of the story.

“There’s always a way to git ahead when you’ve got a mind to!”

In this quote, Mr. Boyer epitomizes the indomitable American spirit that Lenski highlights throughout her novel. Mr. Boyer is a “pick yourself up from your bootstraps” kind of character, who believes that hard work will get you anywhere.

“Birdie’s face grew serious as she watched. Why should she think somebody had set the fire on purpose? Why was she always so suspicious?”

Birdie has become a more suspicious person because of the conflict between her family and the Slaters. Mr. Slater’s antagonistic influence has negatively impacted Birdie’s character development because she now finds herself questioning people and their capacity to be kind. The fire she witnesses in this quote is a symbol of Mr. Slater’s depth of anger and capacity for destruction. Her suspicion of him highlights a loss of childhood innocence.

“‘Ever since I bought me that Bible from the Bible-sellin’ feller,’ said Mrs. Slater, ‘I been thinkin’ we belong to git more religion.’ ‘We all belong to git more,’ said Mrs. Boyer, ‘to learn how to love our neighbor.’”

This quote emphasizes the importance of the role of religion in developing community values. Mrs. Boyer acknowledges that the Bible can help people learn “how to love our neighbor,” which is a tacit acknowledgment that being among people and forming lasting and sustainable relationships within a community can be difficult. Despite the challenges inherent in loving neighbors, it is important to do so. This quote foreshadows the Slaters’ transformation thanks to the guidance of religion.

“All that first night and for several more, Mrs. Boyer stayed up, caring for the sick woman and her children. She and Birdie snatched brief naps when they could. But Mrs. Slater did not die. She began to respond to the medicine, care and nourishing food.”

In this quote, Lenski emphasizes the importance of community. Mrs. Boyer saves Mrs. Slater’s life because her moral code highlights the importance of being helpful to other people. This characterizes Mrs. Boyer as generous and good. She is a positive role model for her daughter and for other girls and women. This quote foreshadows the turning point in relations between the Slaters and the Boyers from destructive to constructive.

“Shoestring was afraid to come to the house, but hunger drove him as far as the back door. He had had little food during his mother’s illness and the lack of supper the night before proved the last straw. Birdie hid cornbread and biscuit under her apron and took them out to him.”

Shoestring’s hunger is representative of poverty and his family’s inability to be self-sustainable. While other families, like the Boyers, know how to survive, Shoestring’s family doesn’t. His reliance on the Boyers for their generosity again emphasizes the importance of neighborly love and community. In this quote, Birdie is characterized as generous and compassionate, highlighting her mother’s characterization as a learned behavior of kindness.

“‘It wouldn’t never have happened, iffen you folkses hadn’t come to live in the ole Roddenberry house,’ said the boy.”

In this quote, Shoestring expresses gratitude for the Boyers, which is a major shift in their dynamics. The Slaters have viewed the Boyers as a curse upon them for a long time. Now that the Slaters believe the Boyers to be kind, generous, and helpful, their relationships become stronger.

“‘But hit’s true, ain’t it?’ said Slater gently. ‘My heart was hard as rock. Now ‘tis soft as mud. I’ll never be the same again, thank God.’”

This quote highlights Mr. Slater’s major character development. His antagonism, alcoholism, and negative attitude fade away. He becomes a completely different man when he discovers religion. He acknowledges his role in causing chaos and turmoil in the past, and this quote is his promise that he’ll never be the antagonist again.

“Phosphate’s used for making fertilizer and other things, but the way they mine the stuff out of the ground—piling up mountains of dirt and running ditches everywhere, and layin’ their railroads with engines a-tootin’ and whistlin’, and building all them houses—I don’t like it. It ruins all the farms nearby.”

Mr. Slater’s distrust of the new phosphate company is prescient. He is correct that major mining and corporate farming organizations put family farms out of work and change the very fabric of a rural community. At the same time, Lenski’s book highlights the inevitability of change. Mr. Slater foreshadows the institutionalization and industrialization of Florida.