Barefootedness

"When you are nine, you know that there are things that you don't know, but you know that when you know something you know it. You know how a thing has been and you know that you can go barefoot in June." (64)

In Warren's, "Blackberry Winter", the story begins with the narrator's resistance to put on shoes. This moment struck me as important because not only does the narrator go on about how odd it was to have to put on shoes in June, but he emphasizes it in such a way that indicates more strange things to come. His confusion on the subject foreshadows an important change in his life. He knew he should be able to go barefoot in June, yet he could not. Furthermore, he would not stress this lack of clothing if it did not mean something. Since the story is written in retrospect, the shoes symbolize something significant to the adult as it did the child. It sets up the idea of losing one's innocence, for it was that day that he was told not to go barefoot anymore, even though "you know you can go barefoot in June".

Do you think the narrator's lack of shoes could represent something greater? How do you think the outcome of the story would have changed if he had put on shoes in the beginning?