Old Story Time Essay: Ma Aggy and Len

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Old Story Time Essay In Act 1 Scene 1 of Old Story Time, Ma Aggy says reflectively, ‘I only wanted what was best for him.’ Upon examining the play, one can see that this is true. Despite her ‘roundabout tactics,’ you can see that Mama really only wanted success and happiness for Len. Knowing that “Life is hard when you black but with a little education you still have a chance (page 11)” she “struggle out mi soul case (page 11)” to send Len to a “big shot high school(page 11).”She worked hard and long, doing all in her power to make her dreams of Len’s happy and successful life a reality. Going so far as to pick out who she thought of as being a perfect wife for him; thins being “Miss Margaret, a nice brown girl with tall hair down to her back,” a girl she thought of as being “advancement.” To achieve her goals, she kept Len busy; making sure he studied hard, she went to bed hungry or took him to the house of Reverend Greaves, so that he would have something to eat, keeping him under ‘lock and key’ as some might say and far away from “the little dutty black gal them in the district(page 11).” Her over eagerness for what she deemed a perfect life for her son might have made her forget that she wasn’t in charge of what happened to him. Is Len ungrateful? After seeing all that Ma Aggy has done for him, one might think he is selfish and wrong to feel so. But as the play progresses, you realise that you’ve only heard half of the story. Len is not grateful because Ma Aggy’s good intentions did not have the desired result, making him into the angry and spiteful man “not given to affection (page 27)”that he has become. When one sees that Ma Aggy’s actions led to Len’s humiliation, you see that it isn’t ingratitude but simply anger. Ma Aggy, of course, doesn’t see this. She sees Len as being ungrateful in his unwillingness to help the son- in- law of the man who fed
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