Gabby Melo-Moore

Mr. Gallagher

AP Literature and Composition

16 November 2010

Plum Plum Pickers, chapter 10 section 3

Chapter 3 of Raymond Barrio’s The Plum Plum Pickers elucidates how the

generosity of human kind can be taken for granted due to greed. Raymond Barrio

evaluates this by exemplifying the human condition through the complexity of

experiences learned in Manuel Gutierrez’s environment. Barrio states that Manuel’s

experience with work and equality is not what it is said to be on mother earth.

Human kind’s generosity is often taken for granted in various ways. Individuals

are all given opportunities in life. Often though, some individuals seek equality, but do

not receive it. In chapter 3, Manuel’s work experience enlightens the idea that human

kind is frequently taken for granted due to the greed among entities in society. Manuel

spends his days working, plucking fruit from trees, earning diminutive amounts of

money. Overall, he is not pleased with his job and questions why people who work so

hard have nothing and why those people who have necessities handed to them do not care

about anyone else. Manuel is trapped in the slave life under the ownership of Roberto

Morales, a cruel, demeaning master who takes what is seen as “important necessities”

from his workers. The shack that Manuel and his family adjusted to is described, “No

curtains. No interior paneling. Just a shack. A shack of misery…” yet Manuel has the

patience and boldness to accept what he has. “He found he was able to admire and

appreciate the simplicity and the strength of the construction.” (87) Raymond Barrio gets
the point across that those who have nothing accept what they have even though it is not

what they want.

Life has a theory about survival of the fittest, doing what has to be done in order

to endure. Manuel lives his life picking fruit for minimal financial earnings. Although he

dislikes his job, Manuel has realized that it has to be done in order to support himself and

his family. “And that fatigue wasn’t nearly so bad to bear as the deadly repetitious

monotony of never changing, never resting, never doing the same plucking over and over

and over again. But he has to do it. He had no choice. It was all he could do. It had to be

done if he wanted the money, if he wanted to feed his family.” (88) Manuel then reflects

back on past memories of mountain climbing in Mexico with his uncle. He describes the

shack built on the journey as creating a beautiful memory in his mind, for he was young

and free at the time. Through this the author creates a comparison to the life he lives now,

Manuel lives in misery. Everything he delighted as a child has become everything

Manuel has undesirably received in the environment throughout his life.

Manuel reestablishes many times that his life is lived in pity. After dealing with a

lot of stress and unwanted grants throughout the environment he inquires the differences

in the beliefs of mother earth and his real life experiences. The human ambition is to live

the American Dream because humans live in “An ethical world. A world full of golden

opportunities. A good world. A happy world.” (86) But Manuel soon establishes that it is

ironic because not everyone is able to attain all of these beliefs of mother earth. “Manuel

simply couldn’t figure it out… Why was mother earth so generous? And men so greedy?”

(86) It is contradicted how it is believed that human kind is great and everyone has equal

opportunities without struggles, but not everyone is able to live the way they personally
want to, some struggling more than others. Manuel has experienced living a life based on

relentless work and recurring effort, depicting the sense of irony used as mother earth is

portrayed as magnificent.

The generosity of human kind is often taken for granted and usually

misunderstood. Entities allow greed to overpower the importance of life and equality.

Experiences differ from person to person. Manuel’s experiences in his milieu create an

ironic inference on the thought of mother earth’s set out beliefs among society. Every

individual is set out to live a life based on equal opportunities and happiness, but not

everyone attains these goals and beliefs due to the intricacy of past experiences molding

the life lived.

Barrio, Raymond. The Plum Plum Pickers. Binghamton, New York: Bilingual Press /

Editorial Bilingue, 1984. 84 – 94.