The Lesson of the Sugarcane Summary

When the car has a flat tire, the girl's mother encourages her to breathe in the sweet air from the sugarcane field. The girls tries to run into the field, but her father pulls her back and warns her that snakes live in between the cane. The father leads the girl back to the car to sweat while he fixes the tire. The girl believes that that was her punishment for wanting more sweetness than she could handle.

The Lesson of the Sugarcane Analysis

This poem exhibits typical family roles. The mother encourages the daughter to experience the sweetness of life while the father pulls the daughter back, protecting her from rushing headlong into dangers that she can't yet see.