In my personal opinion, this short story is totally different from the others. This short story talks about a mother who has to do everything for her kids, the lady is a single mother. I think that, now a days, in this society there are many single mothers like her. Being a single is not easy because the mothers have to play the role of father, they have to work harder to support the family.
The main character in this story is Emily, i like how the narrator describe Emily. Emily is a girl a way different from her other bothers. She is a good girl. She needs special care because of her illness, Emily has problems in school, she is not accepted and even though all of this happens the mother loves her so much and says that she is the most beautiful girls between her five kids. The mother says this because Emily never shows rebellion.
The mother send Emily away so she can have the kind of care that the mother cannot manage, in this part I'm not sure why Emily gets sick, if it is because the lack of the mother or because of something else or because of the kind of childhood she has. The mother just say that Emily starts losing weight and that she has to send her away because of her illness.
On the last part of the story, the mother is proud of her kid, because after all the things that Emily goes through she becomes a smart girl, the mother feels proud of her and a little bit of relieve.
I also believe that the last paragraph is like an advice that the mother is saying to whoever is reading the story. There are sometimes when parents are very strict with their kids, they do not let the kids be free to choose what they like or what their priorities are. The mother says, " that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron", for me this means that there are kids who need special care not because of their ages but because they can show us that they can do a lot better than they are already doing it now.
I think the observation you make about the last paragraph being a sort of parenting advice from experience is great. But reread your post and see it the narrator/mother is addressing someone specific in this story? Whom is she addressing when she says 'you'? Also, does the mother tell Emily that she is the "most beautiful girl between her five kids"? Is the narrator a single mother throughout the entire story?
ReplyDeleteHmm-mm.!!! Now that you mention "you", i think that the narrator/mother is addressing to the person who is actually leaving with her.
ReplyDeleteI have seen that men usually expect mothers to know everything when it is about children since they spend more time with them.
the mother does no say that Emily is the most beautiful girl between her five kids, but she thinks it because after all the mother feels proud of Emily.
No, the narrator is not a single mother throughout the entire story because she has a kid whose name is Ronnie, so what I'm thinking is that the mother actually has somebody and that this "somebody" is her actual husband.