Your Treasure

Author's Note: When I first read this short story, it made me think of someone who has helped me, Dr. Allison. But I also tried to focus on symbolic language, although it wasn't plentiful, there was still some within The Treasure of Lemon Brown. Even so, this piece I focused on my transitions, a lot. Please give me feed back!

Greg Ridley has always wanted to play on the school basketball team, yet he never got the chance. His grades weren’t high enough, and his dad was disappointed in him. However, in this short story, The Treasure of Lemon Brown, the main focus isn’t on basketball. This story also deals with having trouble with your parents, meeting someone who has changed your life, and the lesson of each man’s treasure.  Throughout each of these elements, the author also finds a way to use symbolic language.

Unlike Greg, I have been fortunate enough that I haven’t had any major trouble with my parents. While we both have struggled with math, there are still two major differences between Greg and myself. My parents would never consider taking away my sports privileges, or even threatening to do it;however, that seems to be all Greg’s parents do. The other difference between he and I is that he “ran away” from home, and that is something I would never even think about. Even though, I would never run away, I still recognized the symbolism written by the author. Running away from home, usually shows an act of rebelling, yet in this story it symbolizes running from your problems or even the truth. This author, probably incorporated this idea to show children there is always another way to deal with issues, something my third grade teacher taught me.

Someone who has greatly impacted my life was my third grade teacher, Ms. Allison, who is now Dr. Allison. She taught me to look at things differently and often encouraged me to think from a different points of view. The most impactful thing she has done for me, was allow me to realize what my treasure was, my family and my friends. This relates to Lemon Brown and Greg, because Mr. Brown made Greg think differently towards his situation, that involved his parents and his grades. Lemon Brown, symbolizes that person in your life, who often does something mentionable but is usually forgotten. His treasure, doesn’t have much symbolism to it,  yet it is something worth while to think about.

Lemon Brown’s treasure was an old rusty harmonica, that his son bought for him. Oddly enough, the neighborhood was shocked when they discovered what his treasure actually was. They assumed that the treasure of Lemon Brown would be “valuable” and would be worth something to everyone. Two men even tried to steal Lemon’s treasure. The robbers, trying to steal the treasure, teach the reader never to assume anything because everyone has their own ideas when it comes to an object’s worth. The author obviously wanted to use this idea because he wished to provoke the reader into thinking more deeply when they hear the word treasure.

The main focus in this book, when you aren’t analyzing it, would be basketball. Yet when I really thought about this story, I took so much more away from it, through the symbolism and the relatable situations.  I really focused on the treasure aspect of The Treasure of Lemon Brown, which is not to assume anything and to respect others’ treasures. Lemon Brown, a unique fictional character, is an amazing example of all of this. He helped others, much like Dr. Allison did for me. At first, I wished Lemon Brown would be in my life, and now I realize everyone has a “Lemon Brown” in their life.  Mine is Dr. Allison!