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The First Day

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The first day

The short story, “The first day” is about a young daughter and a mother.
It is written by Edward P. Jones
The daughter is about to start in elementary school, and there is a lot of feelings involved in this new chapter of her life.

The girl is wearing a checkeredlike blue-and-green cotton dress, and her mother spent nearly an hour on her hair this morning, plaiting and replaiting, so that the girl’s head tingles, all this for making a good expression of her daughter, the first day of a whole new life with school.

The new start of the daughter’s life starts out crooked anyhow, as they are turned down at the first school they go to. The mother wants her to go to Seaton Elementary School, as its location is close to an important place for the mother. Seaton is just across the street from her mother’s rock – the church.
The reason the woman from Seaton Elementary School turns them down is because of the place they are living. She says that since they are living beyond the area that Seaton serves, her daughter cannot be attending Seaton. They will have to visit Walker-Jones Elementary School instead.

The mother is not convinced yet though, for several more minutes she questions the woman why her daughter can’t attend Seaton. This point in the story gives great insight in her mother’s will, and how much she really wants to give her daughter an education. Even though the woman turns her down, she does not give up. As well as it shows that she has a strong will, she sadly has to let go of the thought of her daughter attending Seaton.

As they are walking out of the school, the little girl asks her mother, “Mama, I can’t go to school?”
The mother replies, "One monkey don’t stop no show” referring to the woman who turns them down at Seaton as the monkey. The mother’s reply is very remarkable, because it once again shows a mother’s will and

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