PLUM PLUMS and PICKERS?!?!?

Animals you think, animals you are

In the story, Plum Plum Pickers, Barrios describes Manuel masked as completely human though under the skin, of Manuel and humanity, there are animalistic qualities hidden in the human wants and needs shown through the normal work day of Manuel as he labors continuously through blazing heat getting what he wants, an easy day.

Humans’ often want to obtain higher power and freedom. This desire of power and freedom often turn to greed often turns to a path of downfall. Animals are really no different as they will always desire of food, leading them to prey on those weaker. Animals learn from their first hunt the most, as does Manuel.

“Manuel felt a thrill of power course through his nerves. He had never won anything before. He would have to pay for this, for his defiance, and somehow, again, later. But he had shown defiance. He had salvaged his money savagely and he had earned respect from his fellow slaves.”

Freedom is not the true aim of Manuel. Power, respect, and his own money influence Manuel’s rebellious acts. The freedom that came with the power and respect frees Manuel from his labor prison described as “the jails of hell”. His labor prison is what “Locked” him up as an “Animal” and a “Brute… Beast”. Through Barrios’ words, he gives the reader an imagery of animalistic detail. Manuel obtains power and respect through his “savage” defiance, and this gives the reader an enhanced animal essence emitted from Manuel.

Humans form ideas, religions, and facts through complete thought. Complete thought often develop into complete sentences of mind and text. Anything that does not form complete human thought is not human at all, but exists just as animals of the wild. Through the harsh working environment, Manuel describes his work day having, “hot dry air. The hot dry air sucking every drop of living moisture from his brute body”. The incomplete thoughts of images of, “The trees. The branches again. The briarly branches, the scratching leaves. The twigs tearing at his shirt sleeves” capture the miniscule cruelness of the environment. These images are created through Manuel, who describes the environment in many incomplete thoughts. He almost achieves the full thought set by human expectation, but falls shorts of the human quality of whole thought. “The trees. The branches again” lack the flow of a sentence because they lack action. Without action, human visualization is hindered. Though Manuel is completely human, describing his environment with incomplete thoughts gives him an animal like, or non-human, feature, being unable to form complete ideas.

Barrio uses Manuel’s desire to become free and respected, a supposed respectable wanting. Under the desire for freedom is the desire for power and money, greed. Greed breeds the animal features of man. Manuel had animal qualities inside him from the start, as they were “locked” up. Through incomplete phrases and working in the harsh environment, Barrio is able to pull out the aura of animal characteristics from Manuel.