Sonny's Blues Poem Theme

In the middle of Betty’s fit, she starts to shout that “[she] wants her mama”(19). Betty’s mother passes away when she is young, so her father is in charge of raising her. She is growing up without a female role model, so she is already at a disadvantage. The three characteristics of being young, motherless, and a girl shows she is the complete opposite of the typical powerful figures of this time. She continues to maintain to gain power when she openly disagrees with Abigail, who none of the other girls are willing to argue with.

In this documentary, the viewers see a child that had been severely battered and abused by her father Clark Wiley, as well as being neglected by her partially blind mother Dorothy Irene Wiley struggle to find a place in the world after she is found and rescued from her abusive home. During those several years of torment Genie was deprived of educational and physical interactions which seemed to be evident at the time of her rescue seeing as she could only utter twenty words that were instilled in her when her father lacked sympathy and had outrageous burst of anger, as well as in the way she walked with her head hobbled over and her arms close to her body at all times. At the time, young Genie was transferred to a children's hospital in Los Angeles where a study took place about the Developmental Consequences of Extreme Isolation headed by psychologist

As a young woman she was crippled by the weight of the world. After her mother died she was overwhelmed by the task of bearing her stepfather's children and trying to protect her little sister Nettie. Her lack of confidence and self worth took a toll to the words and actions of her stepfather. Even after escaping her father she covered her mouth when she smiled because he

Aunt Baba and YeYe were the only family members who really cared for Adeline. Although her siblings and Stepmother Niang often abuse her, Adeline attempts to overcome these challenges. Adeline’s first experience of adversity in her life started from the day she was born. Her siblings told her everyday that, “If you had not been born, Mamma would still be alive. She died because of you.

Even though Saranell was emotionally abandoned by Geneva, she still stood up for her mother. Regardless of the fact that she was emotionally neglected, Saranell continued to love her mother and was willing to sacrifice herself for her. Overall, emotional abandonment leaves children feeling unwanted with no one to turn to for help. No child should go through the pain and neglect that Saranell felt in Leaving Gilead.

Have you ever wondered how teen parents live and survive in the world we live in today? Amanda was a teenage girl who didn’t mean to get pregnant. She found out when she went to the doctors for stomach aches. The next day she told her mother and her mother is very disappointed in her. After a few weeks went by, she moved in with her baby’s daddy.

‘Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ She said. ‘She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’ … ‘But, they're priceless!’ ” (172).

The quilts have a different value for each daughter. In Maggie case, “it was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt”, her mother promised her the quilts after she was married, and because they were meant to be used and appreciated. Maggie hints that she thinks of the quilts as a reminder of her aunt and grandmother when she says, “I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts” (321 Walker). Dee/Wangero sees the quilts as “priceless” (320 Walker). Before she went away for school, her mother offered her a quilt, but she said “they were old-fashioned, out of style” (320

Hope Edelman’s “The Myth of Co-Parenting,” focuses on Edelman’s marriage falling apart when her husband spends the majority of his waking hours at work. Edelman describes the hardships she faces while raising her daughter for almost two years with an absentee husband. She is left assuming the role of a traditional wife; cleaning the house, stocking the fridge, and taking care of her daughter. Co-parenting is not only hard for the woman in Edelman’s instance, but is also difficult for the husband in Eric Bartels’ “My Problem with Her Anger.” Bartels examines the scrutiny he is under from his wife for performing seemingly easy tasks incorrectly.

Ms. Johnson didn't have an education, yet she knew the value of the quilts and she didn’t let a few words from Dee change her decision of giving the quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves her mother’s house quite upset and tells her sister, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 12).

(29, 54) Despite the fact that Jolly was in a bad place, she still had people in her life like LaVaughn who were having a positive influence on her and her actions. For example, Jolly dropped out of high school at a young age because of her giving birth to Jeremy and Jilly. She had never got the chance to go back because she had to work to be able to pay the bills. There was no time to go to school, which Jolly originally laughed at because the thought of going back to school was incredulous to her and it was ridiculous.

Taylor comes from a nontraditional family. She was raised by her mother, who worked long hours as a housekeeper to support Taylor and herself. Her father, Foster Greer, left her mother when he found out that her mother was pregnant. Her mother doesn 't mind that Foster left; in fact, she often tells Taylor that "trading Foster for [you] was the best deal this side of the Jackson Purchase." As Taylor matures and is exposed to horrible things that fathers can say and do to children, she feels quite lucky to have grown up without a father.

Les revealed that their parents divorced when Ami was just eight-years-old. He said, "She lived in a home with a single parent who worked two jobs to keep afloat." According to Les, it sounds like this is the only thing difficult that she really had to deal with during her childhood. Les feels like Ami Brown 's husband Billy has convinced her that she had a bad childhood and really wants to keep Ami from contacting her family. Do the Alaskan Bush People Kids Know Who Rihanna Is?

Sonny's Blues was written in 1957, 37 years after the roaring twenties had come to an end. Long after the great Migration, where millions of blacks moved to northern cities to escape Jim Crow, and embrace the new found possibilities offered. During this period African-Americans in New York, collectively gathered in Harlem mainly, it was usually alluded to as the black capital. There blacks shared culturally and also, influenced music greatly. This is also where the "new negro" persona was crafted, blacks were no longer going to be referred to as someone's mammies or boy.