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Summary of Hughes' "Berry" Story

The short story "Berry" by Langston Hughes is a satire that criticizes racial prejudice and exploitation. It follows Milberry Jones, a young, uneducated black man living in the southern US who is hired at low pay to work at a summer home for disabled children. Though kind-hearted, Milberry is mistreated and given extra tasks by the racist staff due to his race. The children grow fond of him but Milberry realizes they receive poor care from the greedy owner who runs the home for profit, not care of the children. When a child is injured under Milberry's watch, he is fired without pay. The story satirizes the racist attitudes and exploitation faced by Milberry and reveals the

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287 views1 page

Summary of Hughes' "Berry" Story

The short story "Berry" by Langston Hughes is a satire that criticizes racial prejudice and exploitation. It follows Milberry Jones, a young, uneducated black man living in the southern US who is hired at low pay to work at a summer home for disabled children. Though kind-hearted, Milberry is mistreated and given extra tasks by the racist staff due to his race. The children grow fond of him but Milberry realizes they receive poor care from the greedy owner who runs the home for profit, not care of the children. When a child is injured under Milberry's watch, he is fired without pay. The story satirizes the racist attitudes and exploitation faced by Milberry and reveals the

Uploaded by

Tajah De La Rosa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Notes

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Friday, August 11, 2017

What is a summary of Langston


Hughes' short story "Berry"? What
kind of story can it be categorized
as?
The short story "Berry" is an example of satire, which is
used to expose or criticize human vices, habits or
behavior through ridicule, humor, irony or
exaggeration.

The story revolves around a young man named


Milberry Jones. He was young and strong but,
unfortunately, uneducated, which meant that it was
difficult for him to find gainful and permanent
employment. Further disadvantages were that he was
African-American and living in the southern United
States, known for its prejudice....

The short story "Berry" is an example of satire, which is


used to expose or criticize human vices, habits or
behavior through ridicule, humor, irony or
exaggeration.

The story revolves around a young man named


Milberry Jones. He was young and strong but,
unfortunately, uneducated, which meant that it was
difficult for him to find gainful and permanent
employment. Further disadvantages were that he was
African-American and living in the southern United
States, known for its prejudice. Milberry found
employment at a care center named Dr. Renfield's
Summer Home For Crippled Children.

Milberry was hired to replace a Scandinavian kitchen


boy who had abandoned his work since it had become
too much. From the outset, Milberry, who was kind-
hearted, willing and able, was exploited. Firstly, he was
paid two dollars less than the previous kitchen hand
just because of his race. He was abused by practically
all and sundry to do extra tasks. One of these was to
assist the sulky and lazy nurses with the children at the
beach. Milberry had once offered his help and the
young ones took an instant liking to him.

The children called him Berry and he was glad to assist


with taking care of them. The children enjoyed his
stories and he loved them and cared about them, unlike
anyone else around. He noticed that the children were
not that well taken care of, after all. Dr. Renfield was in
the business of tending to these unfortunate souls
purely for profit and thus did not provide the kind of
nourishment or proper care for them that their parents
believed he did. Milberry was, of course, disgusted by
this blatant dishonesty, but could not do anything
about it since he was dependent on his job.

It came to be that one day, Milberry was helping a boy


who became much too enthusiastic and eager to get to
the beach after a long absence. The boy fell and
Milberry was summarily dismissed without pay since
the boy's wheelchair had been broken during the
unfortunate incident.

Throughout the story, Langston Hughes makes fun of


the characters' prejudice. He, for example, mentions
how Mrs. Osborn had a consternation about African
American employees and how she found it difficult to
decide where Milberry was to sleep since he could not
possibly share quarters with the other
employees because they were white.

Her wire to the employment agency in


Jersey City brought results—but dark ones.

But Mrs Osborn had no idea how the


handyman might like Negroes.

Dr. Renfield's racist prejudice is clearly displayed when


he hires Milberry at a lower wage than the previous
kitchen help and later discharges him for an incident
that was not his fault. Furthermore, the white
employees, without exception, display their
supercilious attitude by taking it for granted that
Milberry has to follow their instructions without
question since they are white. Unfortunately, Milberry
is in a predicament and does exactly that.

In the end, the children are the ones who lose out the
most. The one person who actually cares about them is
dismissed, and therein lies the irony. Their parents
have put them in the care of a greedy businessman and
his equally uncaring staff. Their prejudice, greed and
carelessness is what makes them bad—as Milberry
thought, 'most of 'em ain't good.'

at August 11, 2017

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