Following the reading by Edward P. Jones ” The First Day,” my initial response to hearing the narrator say they were ashamed by their mother was surprising and made me ponder on why. The part where her mother explains that she can’t read or write, made me sympathize with her mother, rather than the narrator. With the background knowledge on the mother. I believe that she is just a mother wanting the best for her daughter. As for the daughter being ashamed, I believe she is in the wrong. she should be grateful to have a mother who cares about her education so greatly. Furthermore, after reading about her entrance into school, it was like deja vu. I remember when my mother used to walk me to school every day While Waiting to see all my friends walk with me. An element the narrator utilizes is sensory details. She describes her outfit, her entrance, and the school to help give the audience a better scope on her First Day.
English 2100 Fall 2021: Language, Identity, and Representation
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the story. It’s interesting that you had such a strong negative reaction to the daughter admitting she felt ashamed of her mother. Here I think that the fact that she says that she “learned” to feel ashamed of her mother is important and suggests to me that the daughter doesn’t actually think that she was right to feel ashamed, but rather that she felt ashamed because she had internalized a message from society that told her that her mother’s lack of education was something she should feel ashamed of. Does that make sense?