Premium Essay

My Mother Never Worked

In:

Submitted By http
Words 257
Pages 2
1. Is the essay`s title effective? If so, why? If not, what alternate title can you suggest?
No, it is not effective. I would suggest “My stay-at-home mother is a hard-working person.”
2. Smith-Yackel could have outlined her mother`s life without framing it with the telephone conversation. Why do you think she includes this frame?

This is done to bring a sense a reality to the text and appeal to readers. Yakel also takes full paragraph out of her mother's diary, to make an emotional connection between the reader and Yakel's mother. This also helps the readers directly relate to Yakel's mother by including dialogue that show exactly how her mother is feeling.
3. What strategies does Smith-Yackel use to indicate the passing of time in her narrative?
Yakel includes all the dates, especially the years, so the readers can recognize or even relate to surrounding environment. Such as in 1931, Yakel's mother went through a drought, therefore people who had experiences such as this can relate to Yakel's mother's hardship.
4. This narrative piles details one on top of another almost like a list. Why does the writer include so many details?
The author wants the readers recognize, appreciates and even relate to her mothers work as she does. And not discard years of service and hardship towards her family, as Social Security did. For the same reason she describes the most smallest of the details from her mom`s diary.
5. In paragraph 20 and 21 what is accomplished by

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

My Mother Never Worked Analysis

...homestead and working in a factory different? Author Bonnie Smith-Yackel wrote “ My Mother Never Worked” in order to disprove the idea of her mother just being a stay at home mother rather than a hard worker. While on the other hand Gary Soto, author of “One Last Time,” talks about how his mother who worked in a factory, removing leaves and rocks from raisins, for twenty years. While both Smith- Yackel and Soto’s are have physical labor, there are many things they do that are different. Smith-Yackels mother, Martha Smith worked on a homestead, where she had done things and rather than being told what to do. Her mother also inherited her beliefs from the hard work her family had done as farmers.Yackel explains how her mother “Learned to set hens and raised chickens, feed pigs, milk cow, plant and harvest a garden, and can every fruit and vegetable,” in order to start supporting her family. In this type of work Mrs. Smith was her own boss and never had anyone to tell her what to do.(124)Though her husband had worked they as a family weren’t guaranteed a source of income unless their crops and animals were able to be put up for sale. For instance...

Words: 799 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

My Mother Never Worked (Questions)

...Because she never worked on paper, like for a company or paid taxes. 3. The defined work as someone who has paid income taxes. Purpose and Audience: 1. I think she is point out that just because you haven’t worked in the workforce on paper does not mean you are lazy or have not worked at all. Because she wants you to come to that conclusion by reading everything her mother did. 2. No I don’t think so. Because back when it was published if they would have posted it in something like a business magazine or a mens magazine they would not thought much of it and possibly thought she was only doing what a “good wife” should do. 3. They say her father or her husband depending on who they are talking about. 4. Some of the issues might live today but mostly i don’t feel they are too present. Don’t get me wrong women that are home makes work very hard to maintain the home and in that case they are relevant in todays world. Style and Structure: 1. I think its very effective, because you think before you read that its going to talk about someone who never worked in their life, but once you dive in you find out they never took a day off in their live. 2. Because its the daughter thinking back on her mother and its giving a reason for the story and come context I feel. I like how she did it. 3. She gives dates and says how time has passed, or seasons. 4. Because I think she wanted to show a long list of things back to back to back to show us how her mother did things...

Words: 397 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Personal Narrative: My Mother

...everything my mom never had. My mother was born in Vietnam in 1973, a year before the Vietnam War ended. It was a place of destitution and poverty. Growing up in an impoverished family, my mom worked diligently to earn a living at an early age. A housekeeper for 23 years, my mother came home every day with a wounded back and bleeding hands. She was never home because she was always trying to earn money. While my mother was away, I had to learn how to help her and our family. I taught myself to study and to keep the house tidy so that she would never have to worry about my grades or coming home to yet another house to clean. The money she had earned from cleaning toilets and dirty bathrooms paid for the food on my table, so it was my responsibility to help her in return. As...

Words: 595 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Appreciation

...all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score. The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none" The director asked, "Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees. The director asked "Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect. The director asked," Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me. The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning. The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid. The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water. This was the first time the...

Words: 913 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Scholarship Essay

...passionate about my work in health informatics, and I am highly interested in developing my skills and knowledge in this area. It has been my goal to become an expert in this field. My nine years of work experience spent in health informatics has been a great opportunity, and it has never ceased to inspire me, especially with the current changes and development in the law and the health care industry. To demonstrate my goal of becoming an expert in health informatics, I have taken challenging steps to further my knowledge and skills. First, I devoted nine years of work experience in this field, including the technical experience. Second, I have pursued other avenues by completing all the certification tests in this field. My most recent certification, and the highest certification test for this field, was the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS), which I completed in March 2014. Now, I am completing my degree in health informatics. 2. My Motivation for Earning a Degree My motivation for earning a degree in health informatics is driven, not only by my desire to advance myself professionally and academically, but also by my values in pursuing higher education. Despite the years it is taking me to continue and finally, to finish my degree in health informatics, it has never crossed my mind to stop pursuing my dream of obtaining my degree. I came to America when I was six years old, and I saw my mother worked two jobs to...

Words: 482 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Instructions

...the discussion board forum titled “My Mother Never Worked.” If you are working with a partner or in a small group, type the full name of each group member into the subject line of your post. Answer Box 1. Answer question one under Purpose and Audience. Write the thesis IN YOUR OWN WORDS. I believe that the point that the writer is trying to prove is that her mother was a hard worker throughout her whole life who never once stopped working regardless of the circumstances or obstacles that she came across. I think that her thesis was never explicitly stated because the telephone conversation stated her thesis well. She stated her essay with the telephone conversation and in the pause between the response of the lady from the Social Security Office she goes back in time and gives a little background of all the jobs her mom had. The writer had a specific question and the lady had a solid answer. At the end of the passage the lady answered her question and gave her the news that she wasn’t eligible for death benefits because her mother never worked according to their records. In my opinion the thesis was in some way written throughout the whole essay when she was explaining all the jobs and task her mom actually had because at the end of the essay you don’t question the answer the Smith-Yackle answered to the lady because she simply gave the readers a background of all the jobs her mom actually did throughout her whole life. In my personal opinion I wouldn’t change...

Words: 584 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Essay

...With the four years of my High School career soon coming to an end, I’ve realized High School tends to be about the façade. The clothes representing the newest brands. The language and actions used to replicate the most popular celebrities and athletes at the time. People try to emulate a certain life; a life that is considered “perfect” or even just “normal”, which may be good enough. Based on my own personal experiences, I realized people and situations are not always as they appear, and most times peers don’t know what’s going on with a family behind closed doors. Behind the façade. One of the most significant experiences in my life was the divorce of my parents and how it has shaped who I am today, and who I will become. My home life has never been a particularly conventional one. My parents were married at age twenty four, had my sister Megan the same year, and divorced for the first time five years later. After remarrying another five years after that, I was born out of a second marriage and grew up in a household I considered stable and normal at the time, but never realized how quickly it could fall off the tracks. In terms of material items, I never wanted for a thing. I had everything a child could ask for, but now I realize it was a way to mask the emotional and financial struggles my parents had been facing for years. My father worked for the City of Quincy in a number of different departments as a Laborer. I always saw the department hopping as a means for...

Words: 654 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

My Family

...Business Discovery Project * Katie Toomey ENTR 423 February 26, 2016 My father’s side of the family is not very proud of its past from what I can tell. They aren’t proud or they are trying to distance themselves from events that happened in the past that they think are severe enough to erase from history. My family proved to me that past generations directly affect your work ethic, not always in the best of ways. My grandfather worked hard to get away from his father, my grandmother tricked her dad to let her get a job to escape his alcoholism. This shows me that it is up to the individual to interpret their situation and decide on how to act. It is theses interpretations that lead many in my family to make these crazy impulsive decisions. My grandfather, John Toomey, was 13 when he got off a train purposefully at the wrong stop and decide to travel and work until he was old enough to join the Navy. He saw his family only 3 times after that and wanted very little to do with them. My grandfather thought he was the reason for his mother’s death, but she had died from pneumonia six months after he was born. In a typical fashion no one in the family wanted to speak about it so he went on with his life thinking he was what killed his mother until he was 42 years old. His family moved to Washington to work at a lumber mill and he didn’t want to join them and his new step-mother. He worked as a farm hand, grocer boy, gas pumper, and any other job he could come by. His...

Words: 2184 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Finanical Project

...I Believe Essay By: Natasha Armstead Professor Amanda Crane 05/26/2012 Life growing up wasn’t easy. When I look back at what my mother had to do to make sure my sister and I was well taken care of, I see that she had a hard go. From what I do remember my dad was an alcoholic he also worked out of town so we didn’t get to see as much but on the holidays. My mother worked a full time job. When we were little we had to stay with our grandmother. She (grandmother) was also an alcoholic. I don’t think my mother wanted my sister and me to stay with her but she had no other choice. I believe my mother is a very strong woman. She did what she had to do to make sure we was well taken care of. People did not mind helping my mother. Going to school my mother ( Mary) always made sure we had everything we needed. If she did not have the money to supply for our needs, she would go out and ask for help. My mother would make sure we got on the bus for school no matter if she was going to be late for work or not. But I think she had talk to her boss to clarify that she had to get her kids on the bus. I see now that I have kids, that it was very hard for her to raise two kids on her own. When It came to my dad he really wasn’t there for us. During our birthdays Mary was the one giving us birthdays parties. She still made sure that we wre able to do everything that a normal family would do. She had us involved in church, every Sunday we would be at church...

Words: 496 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Gibbs Defensivenes

...Defensiveness It’s the day of my father’s annual end of summer family cookout at his house. Everyone is on edge, ripping and running around trying to get everything done before it’s time for the guest to arrive. In the mist of all of this, my step mother comes storming in yelling and screaming about how my four brothers (Brandon, Corey, Keuan and Kevin) and I are lazy and never do anything right. This is due to the fact that neither of us went to pick up her best friend from the airport, forcing her to be sitting than for over an hour. She never specified which one of us had to do it but we all knew it had to be done. I didn’t want to go because I truly just didn’t want to go but I also didn’t want to use my car or gas. Neither of us wanted to take the blame which quickly sparked an argument between the five of us, more specifically my older step brother Keuan and I. I quickly establish the first problem in communication by saying to him, “Your mother never really said which one of us it had to be.” He responded, “OK but we all knew it had to be done. Besides you were the only one not working at the time they landed.” My other brothers nodded their heads in agreement. I replied, “If anyone should’ve picked them up it should’ve been you. You did it every year so why not this year?” He said, “I wasn’t around to go get them I was doing something.” I said, “You’re always doing, something, that’s like the only job you have each year, to pick her up. Besides that you sit in...

Words: 1078 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

My Life

...and what i am here for but i am here to do somthing here on earth the lord will gide me through good and bad times he will never leave me and will never forget me because i am one of his children he has me in the plams of his hands he will never let me go before i knew god and his wonderful power i was a boy who was lost or a boy who was in the dark and could'nt find a light my mom and dad had me on May 18,2001 my name Walter Carcamo Samual i was born at 4:44 am on the that day i don't remeber much as a little boy but i know i was spolied little boy my mom worked so much at night and morning my dad would stay with me my mom worked everyday excipt the day she would have a day off she would take me every where at the time my mother didn't know god or the bible my dad was a alcoholic and would not stop drinking i was the only child at the time i had a cosin also that was a only child his mother was like my mother stuck in the world but at one ponit she found god and accepted him in her life and she was a christan and i remeber going to my cosins apartment because it was right accros mine and i stayed there with my cosin then it wa school and my cosin and i would go together well at first i went on another bus but then my cois told to go on his bus and we both went to the same school Kemp Mil Es i reminber all my teachers there Ms.Lee and Ms.Wilson thery where my pre k and kindergaren...

Words: 316 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Love

... By: Tina Olinger This a true story based on my life and experience’s I have had throughout the years, the good and bad times, the happy and sad. I was born on a cold Friday morn in December 1978 in a small town of Virginia. The first born into a world of unknown and a life like no other, my sister came along in August of 1980 and later we found out we had two step sisters from my dad’s previous marriage. They lived with their grandparents and we hardly got to see them except for the holidays and occasionally in the summer time. Now as were all adults it seems we have less and less time to get together, everyone is so busy and hardly have time for anything or anyone. But we make do and enjoy the times we can have together and as many memories as well. My parents struggled raising two children but we never went without the bare essentials such as food, shelter or clothes. We may not have had a fancy house or car nor wore the best of clothes but they made do with what they had. When I was a year and half old my only grandfather passed away, my mother’s father, from a major heart attack I have very few memories of him as I was so young and my sister was still just a baby so she didn’t get to know what a kind and great man he truly was. My parents had there good and bad as most do, children do not come with instructions so they did the best they could. We hardly saw them both through the years as they both worked odd hours and shifts and sometime two jobs just to make...

Words: 1825 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Human Development

...The Bronfenbrenner's developmental theory applies much to my childhood. An unforgettable time in my life was when I first turned 13 years old. At thirteen you start to experience the real deal. Your officially a teenager and some of your approaches might be different. It was always me and my mother since I was six. My father was in and out of my life and he came around when he wanted to. It didn't effect me at the time because I was a kid. My grandparents helped raised me as well. They made sure that I was in the best environment whether it was schooling, socially, etc. I attended a school for performing arts, taking theater art classes. My teacher Mr. Robinson was a very strict teacher. He always taught us about motivation and expressing yourself. He had a big influence on me at the time like a mentor type. At the school I was attending I always tried to surround myself with people who was into fashion, had a good personality, creative, smart and like to have fun. The kids there were all different and were into to different things. At thirteen you exposed to so much that you have to start to learn to make decisions for yourself and not be a follower. I was a cool person majority liked me. Outside the school was were the drama occurred. High school kids would come to our school to start fights, rob the kids, or start any type of trouble. The neighborhood was filled with troublemakers. A lot of the kids were school drop-outs, or on drugs. It was madness! At that age you don't want...

Words: 1399 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Sleep Iq Test

...sleep IQ Test to both of my parents. It was interesting to reveal that both had missed the same questions three, seven, ten and eleven. For question three they answered true. Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you have had enough sleep. Their reply was that they both feel sleepy when bored. Then I asked do you think that maybe you are just tired from your daily gardening that you do. I don’t necessary see them as being bored because they are busy bodies all the time. I feel that they think they are bored when they are really just tired. As for question seven-they answered true. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need. They feel that because they wake up more frequently during the night they cannot get the required 8 hours of sleep, due to their broken sleep pattern. Question ten was answered true. Sates sleep disorders are mainly due to worry and psychological problems. My mother definitely believes that her sleep pattern is due to her being a worry wart. As for my father I don’t see him as the worry wart, he handles everything in stride. At times he has insomnia and feels that it is due to his busy body nature. In question eleven they answered false–The human body never adjust to night shift work. My father is the one who worked nights and days at times and I’m not sure when he really ever slept that much. So I could understand how he might have an issue with adjusting. As for my mother she worked 9-5 for years and never worked night shift. She stated...

Words: 476 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Stat

...in the year 2015, stay at home mothers have found themselves in situations where they have to prove their worth. Women in the SAHMs (Stay at home mothers) community are labeled as lazy, are said to have it easy, are dumb, moochers, and many other stereo types. In all actuality the life of a SAHM is quite the contraire. In the 20th century the term “house wife” was more so used than the term Stay at home mom. Now, in the 21st century we changed that term because it seemed as if we knew nothing but the walls inside our homes. We are married to our husbands, not our houses. Women in the 1950’s rose to the term house wife and wore it proudly. During this time, the women who worked outside of the home were looked at as some scientific phenomenon that we didn't understand. The role of women in the 1950’s was repressive and constrictive in many ways. Society placed high importance and many expectations on behavior at home as well as in public. Women were supposed to fulfill certain roles, such as a caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. The perfect mother was supposed to stay home and nurture so society would accept them. (R.C.2005) “Most of the time, when people ask, I tell them that I work from home. Technically this is true, because as a novelist, staring out the window daydreaming while nursing a baby can actually be considered “working.”But even though I continue to write and occasionally publish fiction, now that I’ve had my third baby the truth is, for the...

Words: 2287 - Pages: 10