“The First Day” by Edward P. Jones is a bittersweet short story written from a young girl’s perspective about her first day of school. It is a memorable day in every person’s life, and the girl seems to describe a lot of details. The one thing that she did not notice is how hard her mother has worked for that day to come.

In the first paragraph the narrator has mentioned that her father is not present in her life, and her mother is the one who takes care of everything. For the longest time, her mother had a plan of providing her with something she never got a chance to receive – education. In order to enroll her daughter into school, she had to ask for help to sign the documents due to the fact that she can not read and write.

Being an immigrant, sometimes I forget that I am receiving an education that my parents and grandparents could only dream of. It is always important to remind yourself to value your loved ones and everything they do for you.