Themes and message

Childhood innocence

One of the main themes of the text “Blackberries” by Leslie Norris is childhood innocence. This is mostly reflected through the main character, the boy, who is a small child observing the world around him.

 The boy entertains himself as most small children do by making up little games inside his head. For example, when he is getting his haircut, while the adults make small-talk, the boy entertains himself by moving his feet beneath the robe that covers him to watch the bumps in the fabric or playing by drawing shapes:

Cautiously the boy moved his hidden feet. He could see the bumps they made in the cloth. He moved his finger against the inner surface of the sheet and made a six with it, and then an eight. He liked those shapes. (p. 55, ll. 21-24)

In a similar way, when he is with his father, the boy looks at the canal and thinks of the way it would have looked when it was ...