Prose Notes on “Berry” Essay

Berry is about a young black cosmos called Millberry Jones who is employed at Dr. Renfields household for Crippled Children. He was reluctantly employed by Mrs. Osborn, the housekeeper, because the Scandinavian kitchen boy had left without notice, leaving her no choice in hiring Berry. Her reluctance to hire Berry stemmed from his race, which initiated questions such(prenominal) as where he would sleep, as well as how the other employees would defend to the presence of a Negro.She had a meeting with Dr. Renfield and they decided to hire Millberry on a reduced salary. He was overworked and underpaid, but took solace in the children whom he loved. An unfortunate incident occurred, however, where a child fell from his wheel chasten while in the burster of Berry. The result was that Berry was fired and habituated no salary for the week that he had worked.SETTINGDr. Renfileds Home for Crippled ChildrenNew Jersey coastCHARACTERSMillbury Jones (Berry)A Black male, around 20 years old .Described as good natured and strong.Poor and uneducated. real observant and intuitive about people and places.Very good with children overdue to his gentleness.Mrs. OsbornThe housekeeper at the childrens home.Rumoured to be in love with Dr. Renfield.Very full(prenominal) handed with her staff, but docile with Dr. Renfield.Displays racist characteristics in subtle forms.Dr. RenfieldRumoured to confirm romantic affairs with his female staff.Berry observes that the Home is Doc Renfields own private gyp game (Hughes, p. 162), meaning that he runs his brass section for his own profit, instead of a desire to take genuine care of the children.He is blatantly racist.THEMESRacismThis theme is apparent when Berry was beingness considered for employment at the Home. Mrs. Osborn was concerned about where Berry would sleep, implying that he could not sleep with the white servants because he was considered to be beneath them. His salary was as well cut due to his race, and he was overwork ed, with no discussions of days off, everybody was imposing on him in that taken-for-granted way white folks do with Negro help. (Hughes, 162). regular(a) more importantly, when the unfortunate accident occurred with the child, there was no attempt at discerning what led to the incident, but blame was laid on the self-evident person Berry. As a result, he was relieved of his job in a hail of racist slurs.