“What could she do?” (Soto 3). We have all at some point or another been the victim of circumstance, whether we accept it or not. The short story “Mother and Daughter” by Gary Soto tells the story of an instance in which eighth grader, Yollie Moreno, is the victim of circumstance. Yollie is a smart, but innocent, young woman who lives with her impoverished mother. Mrs. Moreno and her daughter have a strong, loving relationship, however they have an altercation when Yollie wants a new dress for the school dance, but her mother cannot afford to do anything but dye one she already has. The dyed dress looks beautiful and new until it gets rained on, then it begins to drip dye, embarrassing Yollie in front of her classmates. This story shows a great
Oscar Casares created a very believable character in “Mrs. Perez” by writing about Lolas passion, bowling, and including flash backs about her younger life and family. He used these flash backs and incorporated her family to go into depth about her past, and let the readers infer why she is the way she is. The bowling ball that is repeatedly mentioned throughout the story contrast her past life. By giving her a hobby, and showing the struggles she has experienced in her past, she becomes like a real person readers empathize with. To begin with, Casares often went back in time to show her seemingly unhappy life with her now deceased husband.
This was the first remembered lesson of not being a victim to the streets. The mother moved by deep love and fear for her children's safety did not want them to be victims of the violence out on the street. Unknowingly, she was inviting them to be the violence in the streets to avoid becoming a victim. There are two perspectives that can be taken from this scene. One, such a young age to lose the safety of innocence to the realization of violence that exists.
This significantly affected the choices she made -- especially during the formative years of twelve and thirteen years old. Consequently, her understanding of social and moral values deviated from societal norms. Firstly, the unstable environment was saturated with prostitutes and drug addicts who negatively impacted Baby’s well-being. Baby strongly believes a mother will make a positive difference in her life upon meeting the pimp name
Wes Moore’s mother, Joy was a college graduate and very strict on disciplining her son. For example, Joy, Wes Moore’s mother worked hard to make sure that Wes Moore (the author) went to private school and later on, Military academy, so that he would have better opportunities in the future. Because of his mother Joy, Wes Moore (the author) was more disciplined growing up and became successful. The Other Wes Moore’s mother Mary, was not college graduate and less strict comparing to Wes Moore’s (the author) mother. Even though the other Wes Moore’s mother Mary, tried to improve her family situation by pursuing higher education, she was unable to continue due to her grants were cut
People often say that your childhood is the most important part of your life, and it is the part of one’s life that affects them the most. In Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons, Ellen is forced to become independent as a result of a challenging childhood, that also affects her view of others and herself. Her father 's actions had a large impact on Ellen’s quickly developing independence, while the loss of her mother and grandmother exposed her to people who influenced the way she viewed others and herself. Ellen displayed independence when she was given the responsibility of tasks her father began to abandon.
Parents are always supposed to look out for the best interests of their child. Anne Tyler authored the short story “Teenage Wasteland” which depicts the story of a strained mother and son relationship between the character Donny, and his mother Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who is struggling with his grades at school and is exhibiting poor behavior. His mother, Daisy is concerned with her son’s grades and behavior, however, she fails at getting her son the help that he requires. Told through the point of view of the character Daisy, Tyler uses irony to tell the story of a teenage boy who is failed by the adults in his life who are supposed to help him flourish, including his parents, a psychologist, and his tutor.
Josie’s Story is a truly inspirational and informative book written by a mother who used her grief and sorrow to educate people, and make medical care safe. Josie King was a curious and precocious 18 month old toddler who was just beginning to discover the world, and loved her dog Trapper. One day, while her family was preoccupied downstairs, Josie waddled into the bathroom in search of her blue airplane. She slipped into the bathtub, and turned on scalding hot water onto herself, causing first and second degree burns which covered 60 percent of her tiny body. Josie was admitted to one of the most prestigious children’s hospitals in our country, Johns Hopkins Children 's Center.
Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme. First and foremost, in “Growing Up,” Gary Soto’s theme is how society acts older than they are and that they just want to prove they are mature. Maria wants to stay home instead of going
In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara KIngsolver the symbol/motif of motherhood and why it's unrealistic to expect perfection from mothers is commonly explored with Taylor, Lou Ann and Esperanza, none of who fit the stereotypical vision of a mother. Taylor, who avoided pregnancy her entire life becomes the mother of an indian girl, Lou Ann's husbands abandons her before their child is even born, and Esperanza is forced to leave her child to save the lives of others. Each of them love their children greatly and are willing to put their children before themselves and their outside relationships; Taylor holds back her relationship with Estevan because she sees herself in Esperanza as a mother. Esperanza does not blame Taylor when turtle
With ignorant parents, she was unable to get the parental support she needed. Even with the drastic change in behavior and grades, her parents had chose to ignore those warning signs and instead give threats using harsh language and threatening body language, such as grasping a knife at the dinner table(36) to force her to become “normal” again. To them, Melinda was acting like a rebellious child who was acting too “independent” but in Melinda’s world, the truest view, she was just a victim struggling with trauma she couldn’t speak about, suffering from isolation and shame. Even after Melinda’s mother had discovered her attempts of self-harm, she had simply played it off as a child’s desperate need for attention. Tying back to different angles affects views on a situation, this applies to the fact that her parents didn’t have any idea of the harassment she was experiencing or the fact that she was raped, they only knew that she started lacking in academics, giving them the benefit of the doubt when they assumed she was just acting unusual.
Best of the Worst Parenting is never perfect. Every parents questions whether they are raising their child correctly, and no parent ever feels like they are doing the right thing. With no clear distinction between good and bad parenting, it is usually left to personal preferences and judgements to decide which parents have adequately raised their children and which have failed. When a parent so call “fails,” often it is the children with their strong will and determination to survive that collectively raise themselves. In Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, Leonie, one of the narrators and the mother of another narrator, Jojo, is not the most caring, hands-on mother, but is loving of her children nevertheless.
Have you ever not seen eye to eye with your mother? In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we are shown how many of the choices we make and the things we value create our identity. This story focuses on two characters, mama and her daughter Dee (Wangero), who struggle to see the same way about their heritage. Dee wants the things made by her grandmother, to not admire it as an artifact, but rather to remake it. She wants to take them, and change them to match her lifestyle as it is today.
In Gary Soto’s short story ‘Growing Up,” the main character, Maria, says, “‘I know, I know. You’ve said that a hundred times,’ she snapped.” Maria is acting ungrateful because she doesn’t want to go on vacation with her family and she is arguing with her father about it instead of being grateful for what she has. Being grateful is feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness and being thankful. In the story Maria argues with her father about not wanting to go on vacation with her family and claims that she is old enough to stay home by herself.
Lorena Garcia wrote “She is Old School Like That,” this piece is about sex talks between mothers and daughters in the Latin American community. She examines the way which these talks are given and at what point in the life of the daughters they are given. Garcia points to the different methodology the Latina mothers used when talking to their daughters, and their reactions when they found out their daughters were engaging in sexual activity. Garcia claims that there is a certain pattern in which the Latina mothers behave. These women are the operation with a new definition of sexuality influenced and shaped by the heteronormative and patriarchal society.
Teenage Mom It is estimated that around 750,000 teenaged girls get pregnant every year, in the United States. I am a part of this statistic. At the age of 15 I became pregnant with a baby girl, whom I later named Penelope Rose Clark. I thought this was the end of my life, but I later found out that I was terribly wrong, it was only the beginning. Life may not go in the direction you had planned, but that doesn’t mean it’s going in the wrong direction.