The First Day By Edward P. Jones

692 Words3 Pages
The mother in the story, “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones, is supportive of her daughter because she goes out of her way to make her daughter’s first day of kindergarten memorable and special. Despite a lack of money in the family, the mother buys her daughter new clothing. She spends extra time on the daughter’s preparation and is determined to send her to a school that she deems acceptable. When analyzing the first page of this short story, the reader gets the sense that the mother and her daughter have little wealth. This may be due to a past husband’s departure or the mother’s illiteracy. During this struggle, however, the mother buys her daughter new clothing to make the first day of school exceptional. She buys a new checkered blue and green dress, black patent leather shoes, and new underwear. Everything on her daughter is new, nothing overlooked. The narrator, also the daughter, explains her joy and pride for her new articles of clothing. She says, “ My shoes are my greatest joy, black patent-leather miracles, and when one is nicked at the toe later that morning in class, my heart will break.” When the daughter describes the shoes as miracles, she shows how proud she is to have them. This alone is due to her mother buying them. The mother takes great care in preparing her daughter for her first day of school. She shows her support by serving a large breakfast of oatmeal sweetened by brown sugar and milk, spending a hour on making her girl’s hair look perfect, and by dabbing of bit of precious gardenia perfume behind her ears. The daughter writes, “My mother has uncharacteristically spent nearly an hour on my hair that morning...it will last until I go to bed that night, something that has never happened before.” The perfume, a gift to the mother from her vanished husband, is a special reminder of times past and is one of her prized

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