Gogo's Monologue

That job has very little honor in this community. “Three years, Three births and that’s all. After that they are Laborers for the rest of their adult lives, until the day that they enter the House of the Old… The Birthmothers never even get to see new children” (p. 22). Today, some women decide to become surrogate mothers of other women’s babies because of several reasons, such as sympathy for the couples who cannot have children of their own or financial reason. However, to carry other women’s children gives surrogate moms great senses of responsibility. They writhe in not only soreness of body, but also agony of mentality. The psychological pain by giving their babies to other women is greater than that of body. Thus, some surrogate mothers refuse to give up their babies sometimes.

The style of writing forgoes in-depth characters and background knowledge. However, Jig shows more emotional connections than the unnamed man in the story. Therefore compelling me to sympathize more with Jig, over the man. Evidence shows that Jig may wish to keep the baby she is carrying and is only going through with the mentioned abortion in order to please the man, shown in the exert “‘That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.’… ‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterwards they were all so happy.’” along with “‘I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?’”. Jig also displays a subtle defiance to the man, which proves that there may be more problems than the story depicts. For example “‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his beer. ‘No, you wouldn’t have.’” My sympathy with Jig is strongly cemented by the sentence “‘I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’” where Jig closes the story with a more sarcastic response to being well, making me believe that the girl has hit a limit to her willingness to please the

He wondered why she had not consulted with the pastor and hoped she would so that she would be convinced carrying the baby was not in her best interest. However, she does not. Sheri knew exactly what she wanted to do even though she hadn’t spoke of it yet. She also knew that their relationship would not continue with the decision she had made just as she knew he did not love her evidently with his continuous push for her to go through with the procedure even if they had to pray about it or postpone it. Sheri comes forward with her feelings stating she knows he no longer loves her or has a love for her, but she also knows that she will go through with the pregnancy and it doesn’t feel right not to. She did not care that I was not what he wanted or that it may bother her family. She did not know if it was something she could bear on her own, but she knew it was what she wanted, what was right, and what she needed to do therefore she would go through with it.

In modern society, it is difficult to imagine the amount of pain women go through when losing their child to adoption. However, when women's children are put into the adoption system, they have complete control of the situation. Shortly after World War II, the pregnancy rate in young women increased a dramatic amount. Different from mothers today, these young girls were not given the choice to keep their child nor did they have much say in the adoption process. In Ann Fesslers’ book The Girls Who Went Away, pathos, logos, and ethos were used to show the lack of control young pregnant women had in the 1960s.

One of them like we have told you before is when you can have a child. You are not supposed to be here, that is why we must hide and protect you from the world above. One day you will be free to go up there. I just don’t know when... I’m sorry.” His head drops and tears flow down his face. He just wants to live a normal life, but he can’t, not with all of these drones flying around. I rise and leave him to think and head to my closest to get ready for work. In order to fit in, I must act like other citizens to seem unsuspicious and appear as though nothing happened this morning. I button my shirt and wrap my tie around my neck before kissing my wife goodbye. Hopefully, the day will return to normality and I will come home to my wife, Jeanne and son, Clément.

What did she want with him anyway? Didn’t she understand that he didn’t want anything to do with her or his family? Everything relating to his family was best pushed into a corner and never looked at again. And now that he was finally about to free himself for good, he had to take a petty child along with him.

Her boyfriend, also the father of the baby, provides false feedback on the whole situation. “I’ll go with you and I’ll stay with you all the time. They just let the air in and then it’s all perfectly natural” (642) claims the boyfriend. The boyfriends makes the procedure seem like it is no big deal, it happens all the time. These words fight against what the woman might actually want. She knows it is not right to kill an unborn child but is still worried about her boyfriend’s thoughts. She asks her boyfriend, “If I do it you won’t every worry?” (643) Obviously, her decision is influenced by her boyfriend but she still doesn’t feel right about what he says. She knows it will change their or her life forever and contemplates if the boy will still be around if she decides to keep the baby. These choices will affect their life completely but what the girl decides in the end will hopefully turn out for the best. The woman replies to her boyfriend after he asks if she felt better after their long conversation “I feel fine,” she said. There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.” (644). This shows she is tired of talking about the whole situation as she realizes her boyfriend is not really listening to what she says. No one knows the outcome of the choice the couple was faced with, but just like any major decision in life, the final decision will ultimately determine how the rest of their life will

“ i’m a bitch now Jailen , because I have a baby” “yes, yes you are because the baby is not mine

At a young age, parents tend to exercise how crucial it is not to talk to strangers in hopes of protecting their child from this cruel world, but what if your parents gave you to a stranger instead of shielding you from one. In the mid-1800s, many women began to advertise for someone to take their child and care for them in exchange for money due to being denounced for having a child outside of wedlock. As a result, baby “farming” or as we call it today, adoption came to be. Amelia Dyer was Britain’s most famous baby farmer of her time. People would pay for her to take their child and care for it when in reality she would pocket the money and either strangle the baby or let it starve to death.

Just by scraping the surface of the story, it is obvious that the man is trying to sound clear headed and knowledgeable. The author writes more terse sentences for the mans dialogue which in the right context shows how grounded he is; on the other hand, the girl talks with a more friendly tone(Holladay). The man does this deliberately because if he sounds more knowledgeable, he will hold more power over Jig. From his perspective, it is crucial that he holds power over her since he wants to convince her to abort the baby so that they can go back to their old lifestyle. On page 4, Jig asks the man if he would “please please please please please please please stop talking.” This sentence is spoken as if a question, however, it is meant as a command. This adds to the reader's perception of Jig as having less power than the man(Link). Since the decision to keep or terminate the baby is so difficult, it is likely that Jig will listen to any voice that seems reasonable. Judging by pieces of conversation the man has with Jig like “‘It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig," the man said. "It's not really an operation at all." The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on. " I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in(Hemingway).’" and

In Meredith Small’s article Our Babies, Ourselves she focuses on people’s social and psychological development through examining the different cultural aspects of raising a child. During this process she compares the American perspective of treating babies, to those of the Gusii and the Dutch. Throughout her examination many points are made that I believe can give the reader’s a valuable understanding of the impact of different means of parenthood on a child’s future development.

Sad Little Story… Update: This morning, we had to send the little “abandoned baby” with our representative of the Social Services Department here in Haiti. When an orphanage receives a baby who is “abandoned,” according to the Haitian law, we cannot keep the child until he is sent to the Social Services Department. The record of “where we found the child,” his health, and any other information is recorded. Then, as needed, they will send him to a children’s hospital. (I know this baby will have to go, or he will die.) We had to send one of our “orphanage mothers” with the baby. She will have to stay at the hospital while the baby is treated. After he is well enough, the Social Services Department will decide where to send him. We pray that

Each week women gather at Christian Chapel, a church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to meet with mentors to discuss what they endured that week. There are several different care groups. The most attended groups are the parenting and birth mothers groups. I decided to sit in at a birth mothers group, which was uncomfortable for me. This care group is held for birth mothers who have gave their child or children up for adoption. Some of the birth mothers experience open adoption, meaning they have some form of communication with their birth children. Although some birth mothers obtain closed adoptions, where they have no communication with their birth children.

The man, however, is not the sole contributor to the communication breakdown. Right away the girl begins to show her weakness and inability to express herself. When the man initially directs the conversation to the operation (abortion), her reaction is described: "The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on [and] . . . did not say anything" (275). Failure to state her conviction is illustrated in this example, and is further indicated by frail hints of her desire to keep the baby: "Once they take it away, you never get it back" (276). An obvious hint, yet she never clearly voices her hunger to have the baby. She continues to desire his will over hers in lines such as this one: "Then I?ll do it [have an abortion]. Because I don?t care about me" (275).

“You killed her when you created me. You and my companion brought me into this world for your selfish needs. I am now torture and scorned by the inability to pro-create. You made me defective. Now you too will never find happiness in the coming of a child.”