Analysis Of 'Buckeye' By Scott Russel Sanders

“Buckeye”, written and narrated by Scott Russel Sanders, is a short memoir that skillfully reflects the author’s reminiscing of his father and his hometown back in northeastern Ohio. At the start, Sanders introduces the cherished wooden box that holds the buckeyes, in specific, along with other memories of his father, nature, and his hometown. Sure enough, the central image of this essay is the wooden box that acts as a safekeeping of Sanders’ past. With the use of rhetoric and literary devices, Sanders is able to emphasize that the wooden box symbolizes two opposite ends; life and death. As an author, Sanders understands the importance of conveying a certain message to readers in a piece of writing. He does so by incorporating the rhetoric …show more content…
Later in the essay, Sanders writes, “Much of the land I knew in that place as a child had been ravaged (342)” and “the Mahoning, too, was doomed by a government decision; we were forced to sell our land, and a dam began to rise across the river (342).” These sentences appeal to the emotions of readers by enabling them to sympathize with Sanders about the sense of loss in the land. Moreover, he writes, “because the wolves and coyotes had long since been killed, some of the deer, so plump in the June grass, collapsed on the January snow, whittled by hunger to racks of bones (342)” and “ravines were choked with swollen couches and junked washing machines and cars. Crossing fields, you had to be careful not to slice your feet on tin cans or shards of glass. Most of the rivers had been …show more content…
For example, he writes, “they had been slips the length of my forearm when we set them out, and now their crowns rose higher than the telephone poles. When I touched them last, their trunks had been smooth and supple, as thin as my wrist, and now they were furrowed and stout (343).” Sanders’ choice of words, in this case, create concrete images that help the reader visualize the scene. The specific memory stored in the wooden box of the two weeping willows he planted with his father reinforces the concept of life after death. Sanders has faith that just like the willows survived and grew stronger in spite of the ravaged land, so to, Sanders himself and his box full of memories will endure. In addition to the willow trees, Sanders uses imagery to describe his father as a hawk. He writes, “then a cry broke overhead and I looked up to see a red-tailed hawk launching out from the top of an oak. I recognized the bird from its band of dark feathers across the creamy breast and the tail splayed like rosy fingers against the sun. It was a red-tailed hawk for sure; and it was also my father (343).” By explicitly describing his father as a red-tailed hawk hovering over him, Sanders understands that his father is still alive, in spirit. He is now able “to let go of him, to let go of this land and time (343)” because he knows that he didn't completely lose his father, although he did lose the land. To say