Greg Ridley's The Treasure Of Lemon Brown

Jessica’s mom died in a battle in Afghanistan and had recently mailed a souvenir to her daughter. When Jessica received the souvenir she burst into tears after remembering all of her memories of her mom. Ten years later Jessica still has the souvenir stashed away in a safe place no one will ever find it. This is somewhat similar to what happened in the short story, “The Treasure of Lemon Brown.” In this story, Greg gets in a fight with his dad and takes a little break to get some fresh air. He goes to an abandoned building and meets an old man named Lemon Brown. Later on, some thugs come to take some treasure that they heard Lemon Brown had. Once Greg and Lemon get rid of the thugs, Lemon shows Greg his treasure that he has been holding onto …show more content…
To begin with, Greg Ridley is suffering a major down in his life right now. For instance, when Greg realizes he might not be able to play high school basketball because of his difficult times in school, “ His father’s voice came to him again... then lecturing endlessly about his poor efforts in math… knowing the lecture would end with his father saying he couldn’t play ball with the Scorpions.” Obviously, this proves that Greg is suffering a difficult situation in his life. On the other hand, later in the story Greg experienced an “up” in his life. For example, when Greg realizes that Lemon Brown had taught him a valuable lesson, “Greg pushed the button over the bell marked Ridley, thought of the lecture he knew his father would give him, and smiled.” Even though Greg had just suffered an extremely intense situation he comes out of it with a smile on his face and a lesson learned. After many ups and downs Greg realizes it is important to remember the little things. For instance, he is going to remember a couple things Lemon Brown taught him, “When you get as old as me all you say when something hurts is, ‘Howdy, Mr. Pain, sees you back again.’ Then when Mr. Pain see he can’t worry you none, he go on mess with somebody else.” Along with that, Greg will remember that it is important to find a treasure, even if it is small, and love it till the day you die. Clearly, Greg has gone through ups and …show more content…
To begin with, Lemon Brown suffered a couple downs in his life. For example, when Lemon Brown technically lost his entire life, “[Greg] turned to the clippings. They told of Sweet Lemon Brown, a blues singer and harmonica player who was appearing at different theaters in the South. This used to be Lemon Brown’s life and now he is living in an abandoned building. Furthermore, Lemon Brown had another “down” in his life. For instance, when he suffered from losing the only family member he had, ““I traveled around, and one time I come home, and there was this letter saying Jesse [his son] got killed in the war. Broke my heart, it truly did.” Jesse, his son, passed after his wife died years before and clearly he was devastated and suffered a huge “down” at that point in his life. Contrary, Lemon Brown had one very positive thing in his life. For example, he had his special treasure, ““I’m not looking for your treasure,’ Greg answered, smiling. ‘If you have one.’ ‘What you mean, if I have one.’ Lemon Brown said. ’Every man got a treasure. You don’t know that, you must be a fool!” Lemon Brown stating that “Every man got a treasure” shows that he is holding on to a treasure of his own, which means that he is holding on to an “up” or positive thing in his life. After all these ups and downs he know to remember the little things. For instance, when Lemon tell Greg about his treasure and how he found it, “They sent back what