Peaches Essay -- Literary Analysis, Reginald McKnight

In the story â€Å"Peaches†, Reginald McKnight introduces his main characters, one being Marcus. Marcus is a good guy, but he is described in different ways, due to his confidence and insecurity. Throughout the work, author Reginald McKnight takes great care to illustrate situations and describe feelings and personalities that many men experience. This way, even though Marcus is having trouble controlling himself around other people and arrogant at times, he still tries to be a better person for Rita and for himself. He does this by going out of the country to experience other cultures and enhance his morals. On one level Marcus demonstrates that he is incredibly confident, on the other level he shows signs of being insecure, manipulative, unstable and incapable of achieving change. Marcus’ actions continually demonstrate how confident he is. Whether he is next door or across the country, Marcus always has his eyes set out for Rita because he sees her as _______. While, he claims â€Å"I have had relationships with Black women and Hispanic women, and Asian women† (75), thinking his experiences with other women instantly make him capable of understanding Rita. Because of ______, Marcus thinks such an understanding of Rita would be ________. He is so eager to be with her that he fails to see her as an individual. To Marcus, past experiences are enough to sustain a healthy relationship. According to Marcus, he had â€Å"been through this before† (75) and told Rita she could tell him anything, thinking it had to do with a cultural gap. In fact, Marcus said to Rita, â€Å"You can tell me. I think I’d understand† (75). [What is he referring to here?] His confidence paired with his need for Rita’s recognition and approval makes it appear that his confidenc... ...anipulative, and unstable. In creating a character so confident, insecure, manipulative, and unstable, Reginald McKnight also creates a character we can sympathize with. McKnight created a sense that Marcus was a confident individual, who set himself apart from society, but in doing so, he set himself up for failure. Where the one woman who could make all the difference began to fear him. Once that happened, everything went downhill as soon as Marcus began to dismiss Ritas response at any given point. Whether or not he was fully aware, Marcus built walls around him and avoided speaking about his personal life with any sort of depth. This, if anything, makes us aware that negative remarks and statements can lead to a very negative result. We are forced to form our own conclusion and conform to the fact that no matter how many miles away, one person may never change.