Esli L4 - the Characterization in the Treasure of Lemon Brown

The Characterization in “The Treasure of Lemon Brown?”

Hammer Liu

ESLI L4

“The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers is a story about a young man Greg, who had a bad day and decides to get away. Greg meets Lemon Brown in an abandoned house. Through the interactions with Lemon, Greg begins to reflect on his life. Myers used different ways to describe Lemon Brown as a round character. Myers described the character’s personalities, revealed the character’s thoughts, and allowed the characters to express their opinions.

Myers created a round character by describing the character’s personalities. As the story progressed, we get to know that Lemon Brown was living in a very unstable environment, so when he saw Greg it quickly came to mind that maybe this young man was potentially a bad person who wanted to steal his treasure. “You aren’t one of them bad boys looking for my treasure, are you?' Lemon cocked his head to one side and squinted one eye. 'Because I told you I got me a razor” (Page.3, line.108). From his words and movements he was a very cautious person. He was always trying to protect his treasure. After they get to know each other better, Brown describes his experience with music for Greg;  “They used to say I sung the blues so sweet that if I sang at a funeral, the dead would commence to rocking with the beat” (Page.3, line.124). This description shows that Lemon Brown is a very confident person who knows what life is about, and he is a person who has a deep soul. Those personality descriptions made Lemon Brown a round character.

Myers also made the character more rounded by revealing the character’s thoughts. When the thugs fled, Greg asked Lemon Brown if his wound was still painful and Lemon Brown said, “Nothing that aren’t been hurt before” (page.6, line.28). His words showed that his heart could not let go of past pain, so he felt no pain in the present body. This description of Lemon Brown filled me with a great sense of curiosity. Greg saw the harmonica and newspaper clippings, both of which are Lemon Brown’s treasures and the clippings a sad memory; “There was a this letter saying Jesse got killed in the war. Broken my heart, it truly did” (page.7, line.14). We know the truth from Lemon Brown's words. Although young Greg couldn't immediately understand that everyone had treasure, Lemon Brown still wanted Greg to leave and be safe. He was a very responsible person, as we can tell when “[he] looked out the window again” (page.7, line.35), ensuring the boy’s safety. This kind of description makes us feel Lemon Brown's inner love for people. These types of revealing thoughts made Lemon Brown a round character.