Jennifer runs a tight ship and work, and she is organized enough to prepare lists, so the work is done right. I believe it takes a strong woman with a good self-concept to be an administrative assistant, and take care of an entire family, but I also believe stress is taking a toll on Jennifer’s body and her mind. I find it hard commuting back and forth to work, so I understand Jennifer has severe frustrations. Maybe Jennifer believes she has to do everything for everyone for people to love her, because everyone probably can’t believe how much she can do in one day. They might even call her “Superwoman”, but that is just a television show, and not reality.
Granted, she plays no part in the political activism, but she does so much to ensure the quality of life of her sisters’ families. On the verge of insanity, she pulls herself together and says aloud to herself, “Courage! It was the first time she had used that word to herself and understood exactly what it meant” (Pg 199). At this moment, she finally realizes that her courage consisted of staying strong for herself and her family instead of selfishly running away. She no longer puts herself down for what she thought was cowardice in not joining her more active sisters in a fight for a greater cause.
Not long into the story another one of those comprehension strategies came into play and took me from just reading the story to being immersed in the story. Allow to me explain, reading a story from a reader’s perspective allows you to see only so much into and about the text you are reading; however, to truly comprehend the story’s meaning and purpose you need to get involved and make connections from the story itself to your very own experiences. For instance, the family in the story is trying very hard to fit into their society by doing whatever they can to put on a show of a lavish lifestyle like that of those around them. I took that idea and connected it to the very similar situations of many close
She isn’t the traditional American house wife that watches the children, cook meals, and wash and make clothes for the family. Ma Joad keeps all of her emotions to herself and hates family separation. She is Strong, hopeful, willful, and unbreakable and the most valuable supporter of the family during the period of hard times. Ma Joad as a main Character of the book drives her family into spiritual survival. All characters in The Grapes of Wrath bear moment's of deep self disappointment; however, Ma does not create a chance for them to stumble.
Rosalind Wiseman Queen Bees and Wannabes Non-fiction teen parenting novel Crown Publishers 2002 I originally saw my teacher reading this book and she recommended it to me and all teenage girls to better identify themselves with their parents and to better accept and understand the young women them. I am not an avid reader but I usually prefer fiction books with intense personal story lines. I enjoy fiction that makes you believe it is real. These are books such as gossip girl or little women. The Main character in this book is truly the author; she spent years researching for and writing this book.
As the mother of two daughters I always want for my daughters what I feel was lacking in my life. It makes sense to me that Nanny’s idea of success and freedom is being wealthy and idle. That was what was literally beaten into Nanny. I think in real life, as with Nanny, mothers can get so blinded by their own agenda and their attempt to fulfill their own dreams through their daughter that they don’t stop to ask what their child wants. While I understand that this may not be the ideal way to handle a situation, I believe that Nanny did the best she could considering her experiences.
Welfare Reforms The dream of most women is to have the traditional family, which includes a husband and their children. There are more single mothers in this day and age that face more challenges on the way to achieving the American Dream. They find it hard to provide financially even working a full-time job because the pay is normally minimum wage and most still rely on public assistance to make ends meet. Some single mothers lack education and work experience, which prevents them from obtaining a decent paying job. Budget cuts to welfare programs are making it that much harder for the single mother to provide the necessities for their children because these supplemental programs are necessary to the day to day workings of a family.
One similarity that the mothers and daughters in the book shared with Tan and her family is that all of the parents had high expectations and goals for their children. Also, when all of the daughters were growing up, there was some sort of family secret kept away from them. Another parallel between the author and the characters in the book is that both of them had lost something that was meaningful to them. The parents, mainly the mothers, pushed their daughters to the highest possible point of their ability to achieve successful lives. The daughters in the stories thought their mothers were very pushy about some things and they did not like it.
Jing-Mei's mother believes that with a little hard work her daughter can be anything she wants to be in America and is determined to make Jing-Mei a child prodigy but we have to question Mrs. Woo’s ways and ask ourselves; do the ends truly justify the terrible means? Throughout the story Jing-Mei is in a constant external struggle with her mother’s control over her life, while at the same time agonizing with her own identity of being Chinese, American, or some form of both. As a result Jing-Mei has a lot of self doubt in the direction her life is going due to the pressure her mother put upon her in becoming a child prodigy. She has to choose from being who she is in her mind; to being who her mother wants her to be. On the other hand, her mother has to adjust to the cultural differences in America and her dream of living the life she never had through her daughter.
Taking care of newborn baby is very difficult; therefore, women always have the maternity leave from work after birthing so that they can have enough time for their child. Apart from the maternity leave, paternity is also necessary for men. Some people say that men take a very important role in their families because their wives need their support after delivery day and their infants need their care as well. The others argue that men should not have time off because of making financial problems as a consequence. It is the assertion that wives absolutely need their partner’s help after a child is born.