There Are No Children Here Lajoe Quotes

There Are No Children Here, a biography published in 1991 by Alex Kotlowitz, uses characterization to define Lajoe as a weakhearted, desperate person who wants to provide for her kids. Many would define Lajoe as a kind person who wants the best for her children but doesn’t have the means to provide for them. Overall, the belief is that she is a flawed person, but with the materials provided, she has been the best possible mother she could be. Generally, Lajoe doesn’t try to be a bad mother. As seen in this quote “Lajoe conceded she could be too soft on her children, though she wanted nothing more than to see Lafeyette and Pharoah graduate from high school.”(Kotlowitz 75) Lajoe wants the best for her children, which is more than can be said

When put under stress she cracks, as shown in this quote “On occasion and without much provocation, she would explode in anger, ordering her young ones to shut up or telling Lafeyette and Pharoah to clean their room.”(Kotlowitz 80) In quotes like these, we see the toll the stress takes on her and her inability to deal with it healthily as also demonstrated in this quote. “The things I should of been talking to Paul about were when I was talking to Lafie,” Lajoe said. “I put him in a bad place. But I didn’t have anyone to talk to. Lafie,” she said, regretfully, “became a twelve-year-old man that day.”(Kotlowitz 101) This quote shows the audience exactly how desperate Lajoe was, to the point where she was putting her emotional burdens on her twelve-year-old child. Lajoe tried to be the best mother she could in the situation she was in. Though she wasn’t a perfect mother, she had good intentions. Overall, much like most mothers, it is hard to determine whether they are perfectly good or perfectly bad. No person can be perfect, and it’s hard to define someone in such loose terms as good and bad. To her children, Lajoe was the only mother they had, the woman who took care of them, loved them, and hoped for their