Leaving Atlanta

Octavia’s classmates, Tasha and Rodney, notice that Octavia smells like lemons. Rodney picks up on the scent when she goes to comfort him after his father humiliates him in class by spanking him. The children think that Octavia smells like this because her former second-grade teacher, Mrs. Grier, gives her soap with which to wash before school. This isn’t true, but Octavia allows her classmates to believe whatever they want about her. Octavia’s attitude, coupled with the metaphor of lemons as sour, unpleasant things that can result in something sweet—lemonade—makes this recurring motif symbolic of her ability use her classmates’ rejection as a source of strength. Their ostracism hurts her, particularly the instance in which Rodney emphasizes to Leon Simmons that she is not his girlfriend, but she refuses to allow her classmates’ opinions of her to impact what she knows about herself and her family.

The motif of lemonade correlates with the symbolism of grapes. Mrs. Grier, when lecturing Octavia about why she should accept the opportunity to move to South Carolina, tells the girl about how her own mother used to say that she loved Mrs. Grier like a bunch of grapes.