A Taste of Blackberries

“Jamie couldn’t laugh without falling down in exaggeration. But he did have more sense than to fall in the middle of a blackberry patch.”

One of Jamie’s most notable characteristics is that he likes to show off. The book features this quality several times, and it’s important to the story’s climax, when Jamie is stung by bees. The narrator is convinced that Jamie is exaggerating, like always, and knows that he wouldn’t do anything that was actually dangerous.

“For my best friend, he sure did aggravate me sometimes. […] [H]e didn’t know when to quit.”

This line foreshadows the tragedy of Jamie’s death. Jamie is stung after poking at the hole with bees in it, even after his friends warn him to leave them alone. He has had many close calls with danger, but until this moment, he has come away from these situations safely.

“I always hated to come away from the creek. One minute you were all secret and far-away feeling, and the next, here you were back in the real world.”

The adventures that the narrator has with Jamie encompass the joys of childhood they experience when playing together. This quote foreshadows that the narrator’s childhood will be interrupted by a very real experience of loss and grief. Additionally, the quote introduces the idea of nature as a place of escape from everything. The narrator and Jamie can escape from the unappealing aspects of life by exploring the creek; later, the narrator retreats to Mrs. Mullin’s garden to escape from his grief over losing Jamie.