ipl-logo

The First Day Edward P Jones Analysis

660 Words3 Pages

“The First Day” by Edward P. Jones is a short story written in 1992. The short story is about an African American mother taking her young daughter to school for the first time. The daughter becomes ashamed of her mother because she sees where her education level is at. The mother is also ashamed of herself because she didn’t get education throughout her life. In “The First Day” the opening scene sets the tone for challenging the status quo and creating a life of success. Jones’ short story challenges the status quo in multiple ways. The status quo during this era was African American education. Throughout the short story we learn the mother did not get an education, for example: the mother says “I can’t read it. I don’t know how to read or …show more content…

The mother wants to create this for her daughter because she doesn’t want her daughter to grow up and be ashamed of herself like her mother is ashamed of herself. We see that her mother wants this for her daughter throughout the story, one example of this is when Jones’ says “My mother is convinced and for several more minutes she questions the woman about why I cannot attend Seaton.” (Jones,86) The mother wants her daughter to have a successful life and wants her to go to this really good school that is close to their church, somewhere where the mother feels safe with leaving her child. The lady there refuses them stating they live too far away. This puts stress on the mother and shows how much the mother wants a great education for her daughter and what she will do to try and get it. We learn throughout “The First Day” that the mother is very ashamed of herself. “My mother looks at me, then looks away. I know almost all of her looks, but this one is brand new to me.” (Jones, 87) The mother was embarrassed, she couldn’t read or write and had to ask the lady to help her fill out the forms. The mother does not want this for her daughter, she doesn’t want her daughter to feel how she feels. The mother wanted to have an education, but it was not normal at the time for blacks to have an education. It was very rare when a black person

Show More
Related
395 Words | 2 Pages

This account handles the story of Michelle Birdsong who grew up in the south during the 1950s, living on the Tennessee and Kentucky border Michelle and her family were constantly subjected to the Jim Crow laws of the times along with the humiliation. One of her earliest recounts deals with discovering that the outdated textbooks they were using in the ‘Black’ schools were actually hamidown textbooks from the white schools in the area along with the lack-luster education already available to the black youth of the area, for example she remember one teacher coming in hungover and slept the entire lesson while she teached, put these individuals at an extreme disadvantage compared to the dominant group at the time. Michelle and her family also

Read More
967 Words | 4 Pages

This helps build of trust in her by revealing that she has also experienced how it feels being a parental figure to someone who was passed through school. It makes the older audience that have kids trust Sherry more as they relate to her, making her more credible to them. Sherry also uses other examples to make herself more

Read More
683 Words | 3 Pages

Nevertheless, with time and experience, Gloria realized that parents' resistance to this decision was based on their unwillingness to let the child away from home and family roots, which were important for each branch of the heritage. Basically, her parents discourage Gloria's academic goals by insisting on the fact that books would not make her a

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

Mamie specifically wrote this book to tell her son’s story, representing hope and forgiveness, which revealed the sinister and illegal punishments of the south. She wanted to prevent this horrendous tragedy from happening to others. The purpose of the book was to describe the torment African Americans faced in the era of Jim Crow. It gives imagery through the perspective of a mother who faced hurt, but brought unity to the public, to stand up for the rights of equal treatment. This book tells how one event was part of the elimination of racial segregation.

Read More
456 Words | 2 Pages

This text represents the hard times African Americans, women, and most people went through, especially during the Great Depression. It tells the story of Fanny Hill's family as slaves and getting their lives together after being freed. The reading shows us how the war movement affected the way African American and Caucasian women lived their lives and supported their

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

Blacks had to map out their lives and future to accommodate with the police because they lived in fear. In the story, their right to teach English was taken away. The students became outraged and did

Read More
1946 Words | 8 Pages

Similar to any parent raising a colored child in the 1950’s, she fear for her child every second she was not in her eyesight. Despite the repeal of the “separate but equal” laws and the later civil right movement in the 1960’s, American society was slow to accept social change. Ms. Downing’s fear came from her daughter who she remembers appears as white and repeated stated that

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

From the very beginning, the narrator points out that she is visiting the white woman’s campus even though it is also her alma mater. The narrator demonstrates an understanding that the white woman probably does not recognize that this is a shared space. The white woman’s expressed hostility towards the narrator when she discovers that she attends the school where her son was rejected. By accusing affirmative action as the reason for her son being rejected, it reinforces the idea that the narrator is less qualified than the white woman’s son and that her admittance was only granted to contribute to the diversification of the campus.

Read More
1610 Words | 7 Pages

Precious' mother did not support, love, or appreciate her, and Precious did not have a supportive group of friends that would fill in that empty hole. On the first day of the alternative education school, Precious says that she “feels here” when asked how she felt at that very moment in her ABE class. Her response reveals how worn out and beaten she has become through the years of abuse. This response is the start of Precious being able to feel and reveal to the world the girl she has kept hidden inside. In doing so, Precious developed a meaningful and lasting bond with her classmates as well as her teacher.

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

Daisy’s mom and dad believe in her ability to achieve her goals, but know that the education

Read More
450 Words | 2 Pages

In the excerpt from the novel “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones, a character ,Moses, is introduced as a nature lover and a person who pays much attention to detail, and a hard worker which is shown through the author’s impeccable use of literary elements giving the reader an enlightened view of the main character. The first and most obvious literary device Jones uses is the amount of detail used in the piece. For example the sun, Moses pays very close attention to the sun by using it to tell the time and noticing the detail when he calls it a “five-inch-long memory”. (Line 11)

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

Dee has left home and pursued an education, which no one else in her family ever obtained. Through background info and how the visit unfolds the reader can realize that Dee has never been told “no” in her life. After years of always getting walked over by Dee, Mama finally see’s that a promise is more important than preserving her race’s culture and in the process stands up to her daughter for the first time.

Read More
351 Words | 2 Pages

Anne says that one of the children left for the academy with so much ambition that this child will be more successful in life than her other children. Anne feels heartbroken that some of her children left and she fears for their safety everyday . Even though she has a couple of children left she feels like an empty nester. She is so used to begin a mother and taking care of these kids, now her children are leaving her so that they can start their own lives.

Read More
219 Words | 1 Pages

The speech called “What It Means to Be Colored in the Capital of the United States” by Mary E. Church Terrel is a speech about a time when black people were not accepted as people. When reading this speech on paper some things tend to come to mind. In which will be the center of this particular Essay. The tone of the speech, the language of the speech, and third how her word choices affect her message. Mary E. Church Terrel is a person who went above and beyond the expectations of an African American in her day.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

Social inequality is overlooked by many. It affects so many of us, though we have yet to realize how extreme it is. Lee argues in this novel how much stress social inequalities put on the black and white races throughout the 1930s. Although, social inequalities did not just affect different races, it also affected poor people and family backgrounds. These are proven in the novel multiple times through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the Cunninghams when the book is looked at more in

Read More

More about The First Day Edward P Jones Analysis

Open Document