...My Mother and Her Sister by Jane Rogers Looking back at our childhood, we all had a certain idea of how the world around us was working. An ignorant illusion that was created by our parents and the way we have been raised as a child. As we become grown-ups, everything is turned upside down and suddenly we see the world around us from another perspective. This is the exact theme in the short story “My Mother and Her Sister” by Jane Rogers, 1996, which tells the story about a girl who finally realises that the people around her, after all doesn’t match the illusions from her childhood. ”My Mother and Her Sister” is told from a 1st person narrator’s point of you, limited to the unnamed main character of short story. This is being expressed already in the first line of the short story: “My aunt Lucy…”(l.1). Reading the short story you get the feeling that the main character is a woman, because of her feminine values and behaving in life. The short story is set in modern time, and is characterised by a lot of flashbacks, throughout the story. The flashbacks reflect the main character’s life, as it was before she became a grown-up woman. Especially here, we get to know her aunt Lucy, and her deceased mother Dorothy, who are sisters and not to mention each other’s opposites. Both are included in the main character’s sweet childhood, where everything is portrayed with joy and happiness. Here Dorothy, the main character’s mother, is described as person who enjoys life...
Words: 910 - Pages: 4
...My mother and her sister People keep searching for happiness, even though they aren't sure what happiness is to them. If you ask people how they would define happiness, you would probably get a lot of different answers. Some would say that happiness to them would be money, some would say love, and some would say family and friends. If you look the word up in the dictionary, you will find the synonyms; pleasure, joys, delight etc., even not the dictionary has a good explanation of the word. It's the same about love, most people know what love is, but would never could define it. In this assignment I will analyze and interpret Jane Roger's short story "my mother and her sister". To put my interpretation into perspective, will I Include a discussion of the extract from Sarah Stickney's book, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", from 1839, and Gustav Klimt's painting, "The kiss" from 1907-08. A: Lucy and the narrator is the main characters in this story. The story is about a mother, Lucy, and her sister Dorothy. When Dorothy dies, her sister moves in with her niece temporary. People react very different when someone close dies, sometimes they just close themselves into a box, and doesn't talk about it, this is, according to the narrator, how Lucy deals with her sisters' death. But considering how Lucy behaves, changing her habits, she does not do the things she used to do, for example cooking;" (...) roast lamb with Brussels and carrots from the garden", can you tell that...
Words: 736 - Pages: 3
...My Mother and her Sister Happiness. We all long for it and will do mostly anything to get it. But how would you feel if you realized that what you wanted the most is something you’ll never get? Would you accept it and try to get the best out of your life, or would you believe in yourself and fight for the happiness you deserve? The short story “My Mother and her Sister” shows how different the ways of handling a search for happiness can be. The two women who are very close to the narrator of the story have chosen their very different strategies. And the aunt’s view of on her own life really surprises the narrator. The narrator in the story in my opinion is a woman even though it’s not mentioned directly. The values she has are mostly feminine; the thoughts about the differences between the women in her family, the feeling of guilt and gratitude in connection with aunt Lucy, her view on happiness with a happy marriage. Normally a man wouldn’t care so much about serving a good dinner, but she is very absorbed in food and gets sad because she can’t make a proper meal. She also has problems with dealing with her mother’s death and her feelings about it. I think she deals with the loss of her mother as a main role model for her view of femininity. From the very start of the short story we see the striking contrast between the two sisters. The mother even laughed about the way aunt Lucy was more motherly in a traditional way. Hand-knitted cardigans, homemade jam and a daddy...
Words: 1091 - Pages: 5
...“My Mother and her Sister” is a short story written by Jane Rogers in 1996. The short story takes place at the narrator’s house which is where the reader is introduced to Lucy. She has been staying with narrator since her mother died. In the short story we meet a first person narrator and as the reader follows the main character, her thoughts, memories and knowledge: “I haven’t cried at all, I don’t know why“ (p. 2, l. 24). The setting is gloomy: “It’s rained since Lucy came. My house is terribly quiet” (p. 2, l. 27). The weather could be a symbol of their relationship and the silence a symbol of their personalities when they are in each others' presence. Their relationship is very tense, strange and it is very difficult for them to talk in the beginning. Something changes throughout the short story. It is as if the atmosphere lightens up as soon as the rain stops. This is when the narrator finally lets her guard down and tries to interact with Lucy - she tries to impress her. While cooking her not so homemade food the start talking and they both open up and finally feel like the understand each other. The first section of the short story is a description of the narrator’s past. It’s here where the narrator introduces us to her childhood and relationship to her unconventional and free-spirited mother. She tells us about her mother’s sister Lucy, who is a traditional mother and the narrator’s rock. Lucy has always represented the security and motherhood. You get the sense that...
Words: 989 - Pages: 4
...My Mother and her Sister. Jane Rogers wrote the text called “My Mother and her Sister” in 1996. The text is about the different relationships between the narrator, the narrator’s mom and Aunt Lucy. You gain insight into their relationship from when the narrator was a kid up to when she’s grown up. It’s a very emotional text since both the mother and Aunt Lucy’s husband died. The narrator’s view on Aunt Lucy differs from when she was a kid and when she has grown up. When she was younger she used to get mad at her mother when she said that Lucy would be a better mom than herself: “A mother like Aunt Lucy must be pathetic.” (ll. 6-7) The only thing Aunt Lucy does is knit cardigans. The narrator and her brother, Tim, would go to their Aunt Lucy on school holidays. She would bake them cakes and feed them well: “You used to cook such lovely food. I think Tim and I survived the rest of the year on what you fed us in the holidays.” (ll. 81-82). Aunt Lucy used to be a lady with large bones, but now she looks like the narrator’s mother. Ever since the mother’s funeral, Aunt Lucy has been staying at the narrator’s home. “She's on her own now in that big shabby house, and I never visited after Uncle Bill died. I owe her. Gratitude or something, for all those summer holidays.” (ll. 33-34) It’s difficult for the narrator to communicate with her Aunt Lucy, which surprises her: “I always thought of her as an easy, chatty woman, good at small talk and making you feel at home.” (ll. 38-39)...
Words: 935 - Pages: 4
...Rachael Smith, my sister. Her death was ruled as a homicide. The cause of death of my sister was determined the day she was found. Rachael had been intentionally drowned to death. However, the detectives on her case could not identify the suspect. Even six months after her death, they still could not crack the case. The mystery of the murder of my sister was the talk of the town. Everyone wanted to figure out who killed Rachael Smith. I had seen my sister just in the morning on the day she was killed. Rachael had seemed her normal self. I had not suspected anything was wrong with her. We had gone to breakfast on the boardwalk. She ordered her usual two chocolate chip pancakes and a side order of beacon. After breakfast, we went to visit our mother who was in the hospital. Our mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer eight months prior. The doctors said she should die any day now, and my sister and I were at peace with the thought of our mother being with our father in heaven. Our mother knew her days were numbered, so during our visit at the hospital, she decided to have her attorney read her will aloud to us before she died. Since my...
Words: 805 - Pages: 4
...issue with my mother regarding my sister temporarily staying at my place. Prior to my sister coming to the city I had explained to her that I did not have the room to accommodate her and my nephew so she would have to stay somewhere else, but I had no problem with her staying a few nights if she wanted to. My sister arranged for her and her son to stay with another sister. However, once she arrived there, she felt like her home was uninhabitable for her to stay; I agreed that she could stay over for a few days until she worked on other options. In the meantime, she had already had her belongings coming from Tampa, Fl. Once my mother informed her that her things would be arriving the following day, she decided to go to New York to visit with friends and leave the responsibility on me to decide where her things would go. I had no room for them to come in my apartment once they were off the truck. My feeling was that since my sister had decided she no longer wanted to live with my mother and move from Tampa to Houston, TX, she then made the choice to be responsible for herself. Having to decide where she was going to live and making sure her things got there was not my responsibility and I did not want to do it while she went to NY and to me, did not care what happened to her things. My mother yelled at me and accused me of being selfish and not wanting to help my sister. She completely misunderstood my point of view on the issue, and I felt that she was giving my sister a pass to...
Words: 625 - Pages: 3
...motel. Having a stable life with my parents was unheard of; until my mother passed that my brother and I moved with my older sister. Once I moved with my sister it was like a whole new world. The change to a stable environment transformed my life. Most children would brag about their parents’ great job and how they would get whatever they pleased. I was nowhere near proud of their occupation. My mother and father would go around Miami knocking down coconuts from trees and selling them to shops illegally. The money they’d receive would be spent on drugs. Not having enough money to maintain an apartment; we would usually stay in motels. Every night I’d pray to god to make sure my mom won’t get beat so we would not have to call the cops again. My mother getting beat wasn’t anything new, until one night that we left to my grandmother’s house after the beating that we last saw my father. My mother kept her breast cancer a secret, it had spread to the rest of her body; she dead two years after she got diagnosed....
Words: 537 - Pages: 3
...9/28/2010 J.E.N.P’s & Co. Printing Press J’baby Twenty five years ago, my mother gave me a word and told me a story that changed my life. “Maureen, I know that you are only but a child, but what I have to say to you this today will give a new live to your life, if only you follow it to the latter. Moreover, I will tell you a story admits what I have to say to you.” My mother said to me. “Mum, I hope all is well?” as tender as I was I asked my mother but she gave no answer other than that I should pay attention to what she has to say; so I shrugged. “In this life,” she said “whatever anyone is destined for must surely come to be, regardless of the person’s background, environ, or status. If it so pleases the person, he can run to the stars above or the seas below, what will be, will be.” Being the child that I was, I didn’t understand, neither did I read too much meaning to the words she said. “My child, you can now retire to your room. I will call on you when am ready.” And so I headed for my room, but on touching my bed, I continued with the game I was playing before mother called on me. I played some little more before I fell asleep. Later that evening, amidst my dream I heard the sound of my name. It sounded so loud as if the person was standing next to me that I sprang out of bed. Behold it was my mother; she was standing at the entrance of my room. She turned and walked away. I followed her lead and we ended our walk sitting by the dinning where she had prepared...
Words: 3429 - Pages: 14
...was the first nice day of spring. We had just left our house to walk down to the park less than a block away to hide some Easter eggs for my two year old son Carter. The events that followed will make for a memory I won’t soon forget; between trying to make divorced grandparents happy and random drug addicts who don’t deserve parenthood my son still had a great day hunting eggs. We had just arrived at the park and my son was running through the grass chasing our dog Claire. My wife’s mother and her younger brother and sister were waiting for us to come over by the play structure; they had arrived earlier to hide the eggs. We took our time making it over to them frolicking through the grass chasing, growling and barking as Carter and I pursued Claire with Christina and Natalie not far behind. As usual my father was late so we all ran around on the play structure while we waited for him and my sister to show up. I noticed a girl a year or so older than my son also playing alongside us. I asked my wife if she had seen who was with the little girl and she replied “I haven’t seen anyone with her, maybe she belongs to the group of people over there” pointing to a group about two football fields away. I was starting to get annoyed trying to keep my son away from the hidden Easter eggs, twenty minutes had passed since I had called and told my father that we were leaving the house it had also been around fifteen minutes since I noticed the little girl with no supervision. A few...
Words: 929 - Pages: 4
...am Raynil Mae N. Limbana, 21 years of age. My friends and colleagues used to call me Rain, but others, especially those who are close to me call me Gigi. I am a responsible daughter, a caring sister, and a friend you can count on. I am from an average family. My mother is a teacher. She took up Bachelor of Elementary Education at Aklan College. My father is a seaman, a chef. He took up a two-year course which is Associate in Marine Engineering at Philippine Merchant Marine School in Sta. Cruz, Manila. My sister, our eldest, is a registered nurse and has her own family. Next to her is my brother who is a musician and has his own family, too living with us. He did not finish any of the courses he had taken but despite of this, he earns money through his talent. My youngest sister is still studying and she is on her sixth grade right now. I am not from a so rich family but my father worked hard for us to have a better life, so as my mother. They are living together but not like the other married couples. We are living in this kind of set up for almost seven years, until now. But the good thing is, they are friends, and they are still taking care of each other. The four of us are close to each other, but my younger sister is closer to me. Maybe because I am the one who pays her tuition fee, just kidding! My mother and I have a strong bond. I am her only outlet. She is my adviser, my number one supporter, she acts as my sister and even my best friend. When I was elementary, I am...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...My Mother and her Sister Happiness is a key factor in life. Weather happiness is found in love, in career, in family - everybody deserves to experience true happiness sometime in life. Life is not complete without this key factor. This is true in the case of the mother in the short story “My Mother and her Sister” who does not seem to find true happiness in life before her days are over. This assignment will begin with an analysis and interpretation of the short story “My Mother and her Sister” by Jane Rogers. To put the story into perspective the assignment includes a discussion of the text, “Their Social Duties and Domestic habits” by Sarah Stickney Ellis and the picture, “The kiss” by Gustav Klimt. The assignment ends with a short essay about the poem “Affirmation” by Donald Hall to conclude the paper. A: The short story by Jane Rogers from 2006 is about a mother, Dorothy and her sister, Lucy. When Dorothy dies her sister temporarily moves in with her niece, the narrator. They don’t communicate that well but when they start talking about Dorothy they open up and the narrator expands her knowledge about her mother and her aunt. The main characters in the story are Lucy and the narrator. Lucy is the sister of Dorothy who died. She is 75 years old and has become a widow after 49 years of marriage. She has 5 children and used to be the perfect old fashioned stay at home mother making homemade jam, knitting cardigans and making huge home cooked meals. As she has gotten older...
Words: 1323 - Pages: 6
...I have a little sister who is four years younger than me. I was always closer to her than my mother and my father, and always cared for her. Many years ago, for my parents’ dedication and care towards us, my sister and I decided to make French toast for them every Sunday morning. French toast was incredibly convenient for my sister and I to make. First, we would begin by beating the eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon into a shallow dish. Then the three ingredients would be stirred in milk. Dipping the bread in the mixture was the most exciting part in making French toast. My sister always had trouble coating both sides of the bread evenly with the mixture. Following the coating of the bread, we would cook the bread on medium heat until both sides of the...
Words: 1016 - Pages: 5
...of my mom’s biggest wishes was to have the opportunity for her child to go away to a University. Unfortunately she was never going to fulfill that dream though me because I had no intention of going to college. I hated school. My attitude was “college isn’t for everyone” and I let that be known to everyone who even uttered the word “college”. Every Sunday morning my mom would get me up and cook breakfast, we’d sit down at the table as she looked at all the sales ads. I always noticed that she enjoyed ads from Target and Wal-Mart those most. She would spend a lot of time looking the “Back to School” (particularly college) sales. She would just love looking at everything they had to decorate a dorm and etc. I would feel bad that I wasn’t the one to go away to college but the weight was lifted off of me when she started having more kids when I was 13 years old. When I was thirteen she had my little brother, and then when I was sixteen she had my little sister. My brother wasn’t exactly the studious type either. However my sister made decent grades and she is an excellent athlete. She was the best in basketball and track. My mother and myself know absolutely nothing about sports so for a long time we had no idea what kind of potential my sister had. It wasn’t until I attended one of my sister’s first track meets that I realized that she was good enough to get a scholarship. I knew that my mother would not be able to afford tuition at a university. I knew that my sister’s...
Words: 646 - Pages: 3
...First Draft Outline * Introduction-When I was a child, my grandmother lived with my parents so they could keep a close eye on her and assist watching me and my sister while my parents worked. I had no idea that my grandmother was mentally ill and what type of person she really was. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia Disorder, early on when my mother was a child. My parents kept that a secret from me and my sister until we reached adulthood. * 1rst main idea- While my parents were at work, my grandmother would always put the kitchen chairs, kitchen table and the dog cage in front of the door to trap us in the house. She would pour salt on the floor in every room, and then have me and my sister sit in the center of the living room. My grandmother would go in her room and get her bible and start reciting bible verses and start having one of her dramatic panic spells. * 2nd main idea-Every night me and my sister were terrified of my grandmother. Reason being, right before my parents would come home from work, my grandmother would clean up all the salt around the house and put everything back in an orderly fashion like nothing never happened. Once my parents reached home, my sister and I would try to convince my parents on how our grandmother was traumatizing us mentally and our parents thought we were telling a story. All along, my parents knew we were telling the truth because they knew how mentally ill my grandmother was and they didn’t want us to be mentally burdened...
Words: 811 - Pages: 4
