After reading "I Stand here Alone" I reflected on my own family upbringing. Growing up with a single mother who did her best as a superwoman to four boy and three girls. My mom is the best to me. She had seven children and treated us all the same. Emily reminds me of my youngest brother who is actually the middlle child. Due to the way he expressed his feelings at one time about my mother. Howck h he felt she did not give him as much attention as she gave the rest of us. How she spoiled girls but didn't do as much for the boys. I had to explain to him in details how official our mother was compared to a lot of friends we grew up with parents. After explaining how great our mother was he took back his negative comment.
The story was a good read of a struggling single parent. Emily reminds me of the ugly duckling at the end when the mother is very proud of how talented she had become from the shy person she always was. That part alone is a jewel because it tells us that once we find our talent we can do whatever we want.
Yes, the relationships in this story (between the mother and Emily, Emily and Susuan, as well as between the mother and her children and the father/step-father) relfect back to us-the readers- just how complicated family interactions are. It is intereting, that you say Emily reminds you of an ugly duckling. What does the mother say about Emily's looks/appearance when Emily is a child? comparing Emily to Susuan?
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