The Treasure of Lemon Brown

“The Treasure of Lemon Brown,” an example of realistic, urban fiction, highlights Myers’s focus on the experiences of young Black men. Like many of the author’s other protagonists, Greg Ridley is a teenager from Harlem. Myers utilizes third-person limited narration, allowing the reader access to Greg’s thoughts and emotions but not those of the other characters. This access to the teenager’s inner world keeps the story rooted in the young man’s experiences and heightens narrative suspense during key moments in the plot, such as when Greg “feel[s] his temples throb” as the thief approaches his hiding place (41). Myers’s work often draws inspiration from historical figures and events, and the fictional Lemon Brown is modeled after famous Delta Blues musicians like Robert Johnson. The author’s use of dialect lends authenticity to the characters’ voices. For example, Lemon Brown’s voice helps define the elderly Southern man as someone who’s traveled widely and whose life experience has given him important insight to share with Greg, introducing The Importance of Intergenerational Wisdom as a central theme of the story.

Throughout his narrative, Myers explores the enduring strength of family bonds with particular attention paid to The Love Between Fathers and Sons. The short story’s small cast keeps the focus on the two central father-son relationships—Greg and his father, and Lemon Brown and his deceased son, Jesse. Greg feels at odds with his father at the start of the story, lending a realistic element of conflict to the relationship between the teenager and his parent. Lemon Brown’s personal tragedies, particularly the loss of his son, help Greg put his own problems into perspective and allow him to better appreciate his family. 

Myers provides few details about Jesse beyond the fact that he gave his life serving in the military, underscoring Lemon Brown’s idealized portrayal of his loving son. At the end of the story, Greg observes that Lemon Brown will be able to go on as long as he has “his memories and his treasure” (60), suggesting that the man’s bond with his son represents a key part of his identity, even though the characters have been separated by death for decades. Across their brief encounter, Greg and Lemon Brown provide each other with the very thing each of them needs. Greg can communicate openly and honestly with Lemon Brown in a way that feels difficult with his father after their argument. Lemon Brown finds himself temporarily reinhabiting his role as a father passing down wisdom to a son—something he’s no longer able to do with his own child.

Myers’s choice of protagonist and narrative point of view indicates the story’s intended readership. The story was originally published in Boys’ Life magazine, now Scout Life magazine, whose average reader is 12 years old. By encouraging readers of this young adult story to identify with his protagonist—an ordinary teenager with ordinary problems, who loves sports, struggles with his grades, and feels frustrated with his father—Myers seeks to make the narrative accessible, impactful, and relevant to his readers’ lives. Greg’s arc imbues the story’s lessons with greater meaning. The story begins with Greg resistant to receiving his father’s wisdom and advice but, through his encounter with Lemon Brown, he grows to appreciate his father’s concern and high expectations for him.

Myers uses the mystery surrounding Lemon Brown’s treasure to support the novel’s structure and reveal its themes. The elderly man’s anxiety that there are “bad boys looking for [his] treasure” introduces intrigue and foreshadows the three men’s attempt to rob him (36). The fact that Lemon doesn’t immediately define his treasure creates a sense of mystery around it that drives the narrative forward. The attempted robbery heightens the story’s suspense and strengthens the connection between Greg and Lemon Brown, allowing the two characters to quickly forge bonds of trust and care despite the brevity of their chance encounter. This trust facilitates the story’s denouement, in which Lemon Brown reveals his treasure to Greg. 

Lemon Brown’s treasure provides an element of irony that allows the author to critique society’s obsession with material wealth. At first, the protagonist responds with “smiling” disbelief to the unhoused man’s claim that he possesses a treasure because he’s dressed in rags and Greg has seen him “picking through trash” in his neighborhood (36). Greg’s dismissive attitude and the thieves’ assumption that the man’s treasure is monetary both emphasize a material, capitalistic understanding of what is valuable and worth treasuring. In contrast, Lemon Brown possesses a deep conviction in his values and an unshakeable resolve to defend them, as demonstrated by his determination to protect his prized possessions from armed thieves. By positioning “yellowed newspaper clippings and a battered harmonica” as priceless due to their emotional significance (60), the author introduces questions about what truly gives life meaning and value.

The treasure also functions as a motif for the story’s thematic exploration of Music as a Cultural and Personal Legacy. The fictional Lemon Brown was part of the emergence of the Delta Blues in the early 20th century. He passes on this cultural legacy by teaching Greg about this style of music and modeling the blues’ ethos of endurance in the face of universal human suffering. Holding onto this resilient mindset and the memories of his time as a musician helps Lemon Brown persevere in the face of grief, poverty, and homelessness. By the end of the story, Greg becomes a part of Lemon Brown’s ongoing personal legacy even though he never hears him sing or play the harmonica. By making the titular character a blues artist, Myers honors music’s importance as a vital form of cultural expression that has historically helped Black Americans to voice their struggles, find strength in community, and create something lasting and beautiful out of painful circumstances. 

Throughout the story, Myers uses symbolism to illustrate the main character’s growth. Greg’s apartment represents family and reconciliation. The protagonist’s journey forms a circle—starting with his glum meditations on his building’s stoop in the opening paragraphs and ending with his return to the apartment at the story’s resolution. Greg’s entry into the apartment at the end of the story indicates his readiness to make amends with his father, accepting his lectures and high expectations for the expressions of love and concern that they are. Greg’s encounter with Lemon Brown deepens the apartment’s symbolism as the elderly man encourages Greg to return home. Lemon Brown’s personal story of love and loss encourages the boy to close the emotional distance between him and his father. Myers also uses weather symbolism to bring the story full circle. The storm that bursts over Harlem at the beginning underscores the teenager’s anger at his father. The rainstorm highlights both the intensity and the temporary nature of Greg’s foul mood. The thunder, lightning, and rain drive him to seek shelter in the building where Lemon Brown is staying, but they dissipate by the end of the story just like Greg’s frustration toward his father. The shift in the weather emphasizes Greg’s maturation as he moves from anger to appreciation due to his encounter with Lemon Brown.