“The first day” by Edward P Jones is a story about a African-American mom taking her daughter to school for the first time. Throughout the story the daughter becomes progressively more ashamed of her mom, the reason she becomes ashamed is because she’s realizing that her mom is a smart or as fortunate as the other mothers. Not only is the daughter ashamed of her mother, but the mother is also ashamed of her own self. Overall, this is a very sad story. As the mother and daughter are entering the school, the daughter automatically starts pointing out the differences between them and the other families. She describes the other parents like people from the Ebony magazine. What are Ebony magazine is, it’s just a very fancy magazine where people are very well dressed and put together. They are much more fortunate than many of us are and they have money for whatever they want in life. In the text the daughter is describing this lady with hair curlers in her hand, instead of actual curlers they are rolls of money. Now the mother can’t fill out the form by herself so she hast to ask someone for help, she ends up asking the person with the money in her hair. Which might be very uncomfortable for the mom. One thing I might identify with in the story is just not being as fortunate as some of the other students in my school because they got to go in to parent teacher conference with their actual mom. Unfortunately around the age of seven my mother got very sick. Thankfully my older sister got to sort of take my mother’s place and become the person in charge which I am so grateful for. Even though this is a very sad short story, it was a very interesting read.

“The First Day” by Edward P. Jones is a story of a little girl who was being registered for school by her mother. However, the story is told from the perspective of the girl. The author wrote the story from the point of view of this young girl to allow the readers to understand the moments that took place in the story. He does this by providing a lot of imagery details. For example, when the girl was getting ready to attend the first day. This moment was told in the perspective of the girl however, it was not in the present tense but instead it was a memory she looked back to. In the story the girl says, “in an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother” (Jones 1). This quote delivers the understanding that she is referring back to a moment in her life that involves her mother. However, this story does not just generally center on the girl but on the mother too. By the girl explaining all the moments of her first day of school we learn many interesting things about the mom. For instance, she is a single mother, she also doesn’t have the skills to read probably because she did not receive an education, and lastly she is not the wealthiest either. Regardless, the mother did not stop from trying to find the best education for her daughter. I was able to connect to this story because my parents aren’t the best when it comes to education. I have received the education that many members of my family were not able to relieve. The mother showing the care she has for her daughter reminds me of my mother. Mainly because I know that my mom would be determined to help me shape a better future. Which is why I value my family and my education.

The story “The first day by Edward P Jones” was very interesting read. One observation that stuck out to me were how the story was actually past tense and not present tense as when reading the lines “I am carrying a pencil, a pencil sharpener” made me think she was giving her experience presently, but she actually wasn’t. When I reread the story from the beginning she made it clear she was talking about the past when she says “long before” Some details from the text that made a strong impression on me was the fact that her mother was illiterate as stated in page 2 paragraph 6 “Would ifou help me with this form? That is, if you don’t mind.” This made feel a strong sense of empathy because similarly when I was growing up I would see my parents struggle to fill out forums when going to the doctor and school since they weren’t fluent in English and writing they too would ask for assistance just like the daughters mom did in the story. The authors breakdown of the daughters entrance to school make it seem as if it was a very important step in her life. The author writes how the mother spends a long time dressing her daughter up with new clothes and does her daughter hair uncommonly by spending an hour to get her hair right which she normally doesn’t do and an even puts perfume on her daughter. Entering the Seaton Elementary School the author now shows a different view of the situation. Based on the first page in paragraph 3 it says that the school that they are going to enroll in is not near where they live and the daughter could not find any of her friends near the school either. In the school the Mother gets into a conflicting argument with one of the guards of the school who says they cannot admit her daughter to the school since they are from a different neighborhood after a long conversation of going back and fourth of the viewpoint of both the guard and the mother the mother and her daughter leave with no prevail. This implies that the author description makes out the entrance to the school to be a special day to then ending it off with a fail of not being able to attend the school. One element of this narrative that I can sympathize with is the setting of this narrative since as as I got older I had to attend institutions that were farther and farther from where I lived similarly to how in this story the daughter goes to a different place to go to school.

Hi! My name is Dora and I use she/her pronouns. 

The picture I attached is a picture of me with my lego panda. I wanted to share this because I enjoy building legos. I love working on hands-on projects like lego-building but my hobbies also extend to other creative projects like model-building and paper-folding. 

Here’s a bunch of facts about me:

I can be extroverted and introverted. I am friendly with many people but not friends with many people. 

I love eating and trying new cuisines. I am unfortunately allergic to strawberries. I quit seafood for 2.5 years because I watched a Netflix documentary that told me to (I regret this). I love pickles and cucumbers but hate tofu. If you catch me staring into space I am most likely thinking about what I want to eat. 

I value experiences over coursework. Volunteer coordinator, server, translator, tutor, and campaign intern are some jobs I had the privilege of having during high school. This is my way of learning, and I think my time spent doing these extracurricular activities taught me more than any class ever will. I still care about school- just not as much. 

I am competitive but not necessarily athletic. I did competitive track for three years and hated it. Unsure why I did that to myself. I will complain if I have to walk up more than 2 flights of stairs. I do enjoy a good game of most ball sports. 

I chopped off 12 inches of my hair during quarantine because why not. I enjoy looking like a dad on vacation. I dress more masculine but I would say I have many feminine traits if you look harder. I enjoy being both masculine and feminine because I get the best of both worlds. 

I’m not religious but I am spiritual. That pretty much means I believe in the existence of a higher power but I’m unsure exactly what that is. Instead of praying to a specific god, I just call out to the universe. 

I dislike living life by the terms other people set for me, like grades or unrealistic expectations. I hope to grow the definition of “me” through value exploration, meaningful experiences, and insightful coursework . I want to leave Baruch with a strong sense of identity. 

In the passage “First Day” we are told a story of a 5 year old girl and her first day in school. The passage is written through the perspective of the girl and what I found interesting is the abundance of details. Through the many details given we are able to infer many things. For example, we were told that the girls mother spent a lot of time in the morning doing her hair, something that is atypical for the mother. Considering that her mother is going above and beyond, I assume the mother is nervous for her daughter’s first day.

Something else I noticed is how the girl has no idea of what she is getting into. Throughout the story, the mother seems to be panicky and worried about her daughter’s first day. On the other hand, the lack of her own emotions portrayed makes me believe she wasn’t too worried.

I find this relatable because when I was going into my first day of school I had no idea what I was there for. I was told I just played with toys in the corner and didn’t make much of a fuss.

“The First Day” by Edward P. Jones is a short story given by a young girl’s point of view of her mother registering her for classes. The young girl uses good details to create an imagery in the reader’s mind. Even making sure what her mother did for her first day of school, showing the reader that the mother really cares about her daughter’s education. 

Throughout the story it is shown, and the author wants to show that the mother really cares and wants her daughter to have the education she could not have. In an effort for her daughter to have a first day of school, she had to ask for help to fill out a form accordingly because she did not know how to read or write. 

I found to relate to this story because even though I am a U.S. Citizen, I still remember coming to this country for the first time and my mom working hard every day and still is to make sure that I get an education and become someone professional in life. Which is always important to remember that your parents want what was best for you and your future. 

The short story, ” The Final Day ” by Edward P. Jones, we could see Imagery being depicted throughout the story. The description of what the child was wearing that day and what were her surroundings made me be able to picture that in my mind. We can see that the little girl’s mother wants her child to receive a good education. We also get a revelation that the Mother does not have any sort of education as we could read from this quote of the story, “I can’t read it. I don’t know how to read or write, and I’m askin you to help me.” The reason that her mother is desperately trying to get her daughter into school is because she does not want her child to have the struggles she has. She wants her child to be successful and smart. I can really connect to this because my mother she could barely speak english and somewhat understands it but she wants me and my siblings to succeed in life. She constantly pushes us hard to keep learning. This is the main reason why I will do my best to achieve that goal my mother wants us to do.