A Woman's Work Is Never Done

A Woman’s Work is Never Done Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines “work” as, “a job or activity that you do regularly especially in order to earn money.” In the world, one person’s view of work can differ greatly from another’s. Many people are in their line of work for the money it brings in, and others choose their work based on what they like to do. Our society is built on work and the expectation people have of their paycheck. It is a way to get something else. It is how you make a living, but it does not make a life.
In the short story “My Mother Never Worked”, it contradicts the public view of work and shows an alternate perspective of the word. To Martha Smith, work was a way of life. It was not a 9 to 5 job with a nice break at the end of the day. Work wasn’t something she did, it was her lifestyle. Even in the beginning of her marriage, “They had no capital… and had to gain it slowly, working from dawn until midnight every day” (122). Martha worked more in one day than most people do in two. She had to work to put food on the table and clothing on her children. She didn’t do it by earning a paycheck. She did it by laboring from dawn until dusk. She didn’t have one job. She had three. Martha was a wife, a mother, and a farmer. This was not a lavish way of life, but it kept her family’s needs met and was satisfying.
Martha first became a wife. She married into a farm family. Her first priority was to support her husband. This didn’t come naturally for her. Have you ever heard the term city girl? Martha was “town bred” and “learned to set hens and raise chickens, feed pigs, milk cows, plant and harvest a garden, and can every fruit and vegetable she could scrounge” (122). The key word here is learned. Martha, even though raised without the knowledge of rural life, was able to learn the skills required to help her husband, the