42 pages • 1 hour read
Lois LenskiStrawberry Girl
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Inevitability of Change
Mr. Slater is Birdie’s neighbor and a notorious alcoholic who terrorizes people in the community. Mr. Slater isolates himself from his neighbors and raises his two eldest sons to be disrespectful to others. Mr. Slater doesn’t believe in the value of educating his children or learning how to properly farm his land or take care of his animals. Mr. Slater’s ignorance about farm life is made more personal by the fact that he and his ancestors are from Florida. He is a squatter who claims he inherited his land and cattle from his family, who were also squatters. Mr. Slater has an entitlement complex about his land and is against the Boyers because he’s been around longer and feels belittled by the Boyers’ success. Mr. Slater claims that Mr. Boyer has “no tight to cut off my right o’ way! […] We’ve always lived there, me and my Pa and my Grandpa before me! […] We’ve always had the use of all that land for pasture, for moss pickin’ and frog huntin’ and anything else we want. You got no right to fence it up!” (96). At its core, the feud between Mr. Slater and Mr. Boyer starts because these two men view land ownership differently.
Mr. Slater disrespects Mr. Boyer’s boundaries and escalates the tension between the two when he threatens to use his gun. As he and Mr. Boyer go back and forth with their retaliation, Mr. Slater’s anger and alcoholism deepen. His family suffers desperately from his temper and addiction. They are destitute, hungry, dirty, and ostracized by their community.
Mr. Slater’s character development is significant, as he evolves from the novel’s primary antagonist into a saved man. Mr. Slater begins his journey to sobriety when he forgives the Boyers due to Mrs. Boyer’s interference in his wife’s illness. Mr. Slater then discovers religion and faith. Mr. Slater quits drinking and this changes his entire perspective. He encourages Shoestring to go to school and even decides to evolve with the times as Florida becomes a more formal, developed state. Mr. Slater’s redemption story celebrates the role of community, religion, and progress in America.
The Importance of Community and Hard Work
In Strawberry Girl, the importance of community and hard work is tied to the setting and characterization.
The central community explored in this novel is the family unit. For rural farmers, family is integral to success. Birdie works hard to help her family’s crops succeed. She works the way an adult would, and she takes pride in that hard work. All hands contribute to the survival of the family. This expands into the larger community made up of neighboring farmers. People help one another succeed, as is evidenced when the community comes together to make candy and celebrate a day of fun. As rural life in the novel is challenging and often punishing, community days when people can let loose and enjoy one another’s company are important in keeping their spirits up. Birdie appreciates church because “[i]t was a good time to visit friends and to make new ones. And the best thing about it was the organ music and the singing which kept on and on. Birdie talked to some of the girls she had met at school and felt as if she had always known them” (42). Birdie’s inclusion in the community makes her feel that her hard work and kindness to others are worthy and reciprocated. Birdie enjoys belonging, and she makes other people feel welcome. She extends kindness to Shoestring even when he annoys her. Birdie doesn’t want anyone to be left out of fun or success. Birdie therefore embodies the spirit of community.
Hard work is also important in building community. People are at first weary of the Boyers because they’re outsiders. However, the Boyers prove themselves through their hard work. Mr. Boyer’s success, amiability, and inclusion ingratiate him to the community. This is important for his own family’s survival. In working to be a part of the community, Mr. Boyer benefits through connections. Mr. Boyer’s motto is: “’There’s always a way to git ahead when you’ve got a mind to!’” (145) and this is true in his business and personal life. Mr. Boyer gets ahead by being entrepreneurial, embracing change, and working hard. He is knowledgeable about farming and caring for animals. Mr. Boyer doesn’t want to keep this knowledge to himself. He knows that by helping other people be successful farmers, the entire community will grow and benefit.
Strawberry Girl is a novel that celebrates the indomitable American spirit of community and hard work. The novel ends happily because everybody is able to strengthen their sense of community just as Florida is about to grow.
The Importance of Being Kind
As a children’s novel, Strawberry Girl aims to teach lessons that readers can apply to their real lives. The importance of being kind is also its primary lesson.
Birdie, the central protagonist, is first characterized through her kindness. When she meets Zephy and Essie and sees their poverty, Birdie “began to comb out their short, straggly hair” and “washed their thin, pale faces” (10). Birdie doesn’t judge the little girls for their poverty, even though they judge her for her larger house and material goods. Instead, Birdie takes care of them as she would her siblings. Under Birdie’s loving care, the girls’ hair “shone like warm glistening silver” (10), a simile that captures that a little bit of kindness can transform something destitute into something bright.
Birdie also extends her kindness to Shoestring. Shoestring is socially ostracized from the other kids because of his father’s reputation. Rather than judge him for his father’s faults, Birdie befriends Shoestring and tries to include him in things she does. Even when Shoestring acts out or annoys her, Birdie forgives him and maintains their friendship. Birdie can recognize when other people are trying to be kind, so when Shoestring proves that “he was trying to fix things up. […] She was able to forgive him for the snake on her hat. […] He only did it in fun anyhow. He had not meant to hurt or frighten her” (51). This demonstrates that Birdie believes in the best of people. She chooses to see Shoestring as a good person, and this choice helps Birdie be kinder to him in return. Even when their fathers’ feud escalates, Birdie works hard to maintain her friendship with Shoestring. She feels genuine empathy for his situation. This ends up being important for plot development, as Birdie’s kindness to the Slaters even when they villainize her or try to destroy her family proves to the Slaters that the Boyers are trustworthy.
Birdie learns her kindness from her mother. When Mrs. Slater falls deathly ill, Mrs. Boyer pauses her own life and takes care of her around the clock. Mrs. Boyer saves Mrs. Slater’s life solely out of kindness. She doesn’t owe anything to Mrs. Slater. Between constantly providing food to Mrs. Slater when she’s hard up and their husbands’ feud, there is no reason for Mrs. Boyer to help Mrs. Slater except for her moral code. Mrs. Boyer’s morality is informed by her religious faith. Mrs. Boyer believes in loving one’s neighbor even when loving them is a challenge. Mrs. Boyer is the role model for kindness as a virtue. She saves Mrs. Slater’s life in many ways. Saving her life also transforms Mr. Slater’s opinion about the Boyers and himself. Under Mrs. Boyer’s kind influence, the Slaters become a new, happier, healthier family.
