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How Far She Wentt Mary Hood Summary

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The story “How Far She Went,” by Mary Hood, focuses on a granny who is ashamed of her past because she gave birth to her daughter, who has since deceased, out of wedlock. The granny’s granddaughter is unwillingly forced to live with her granny in a cottage in the middle of no where. The rebellious actions of the granddaughter cause the granny to have to confront the men who end up coming after the women. The granny is then forced to make a difficult sacrifice for her and her granddaughters well-being that attributes to their escape and in the end, them going home together. Over the course of the story, the Grandmother realizes that she can no longer live a routine life attempting to hide from her past and continuing to neglect her granddaughter …show more content…

After arguing with her granddaughter, the granny continues on with her normal chores as she “bring[s] in the laundry” attempting to hide her problems. This shows that she is stuck in a constant cycle of temporary cleansing briefly washing away her problems however, what she does not realize is that eventually her problems, like the laundry, will get dirty again, and she can continue to rinse them away but by doing so she is entrapping herself in this cycle; she needs to allow the dirtiness in order be able to face and deal her problems. However, just as the granddaughters “suitcases [are] never unpacked (2)” because she does not feel welcomed, the granny also does not feel like she can unpack her own “suitcases” but for different reasons. The granny believes her problems can hide away forever, but carrying around this old baggage shows she is only further entangling herself in the past and away from her granddaughter. The granny regularly visits her daughters grave with “seed[s] in her pocket,” which reveals that she has not yet moved on since the death of her daughter because she is still trying to keep her as close as she can, as if she feels some sort of guilt. The granny does not realize that she is actually showing more love to her dead daughter than her living granddaughter, and by keeping the seeds in her pocket she is keeping the past close when it would help heal her to let the seeds go once and for all and start sowing seeds with her granddaughter. In the same way that the granny wears the apron she also wears “gloves” as an extra layer of protection from her past, and in order to ensure that she is never found unprotected and vulnerable again. Another layer of protection the granny has is her dog who “whine[s] at her hem,” showing that he is always by her side, and she has

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