Remembering the Visit

My mama, then walked up to me somewhat tentatively. Her arms crossed over her chest holding herself as if she was nervous about looking at the photographs. She stood beside me as we both gazed upon the pictures that were all over the room. I then pointed out again to her the woman to whom I had referred.

9. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.”

The characters in this story are all within the same family. The narrator’s mother died, at an earlier time, due to eating poisonous fish. He had a brother, sister, and father who play major roles in the family dynamic. The narrator and sister are both young and not traditional in a way their father is. For example, “'You were swayed by certain -influences. Like so many others.” (____) The father is expressing his distaste for the way the sons generation acts; however, their father, being older, is a very traditional person compared to the children. The narrator feels uncomfortable around his father due to how uptight he is; furthermore, the narrator does not know how to hold a meaningful conversation with his father due to negative childhood memories as well as the failure of his business. The failure lead to the Watanabe family’s death, his business partner committed a murder-suicide. These differences create

“It was during a war, darlings,” explains Mama. “I forget which one precisely. Your father had difficulty getting help at that time or he never would have hired me, even to make costumes, as inexperienced as I was.”

Nevaeh’s future was changed. As tears ran down her face, words could not describe the way she felt. Who knew what destiny had in store for her at age 18. All she went through and when her life made a sudden twist, she was shocked. Not having someone her side was the hardest thing for her. She never really had anybody to guide her to the right path, protect her, love her, and support her. It's been so many years and she still couldn’t cope with it. But now all of a sudden she comes across 2 people.

Vanette and I were bundled up next to a nice warm fire when all of a sudden we heard yelling from the kitchen. Vanette and I gingerly walked up to the kitchen door and peeked in to see Mama and Papa arguing about something. Though I did not know it then, they were arguing about Papa’s job. After the war, profits were increasing, but so was inflation. Companies in an effort to reduce operating costs laid off workers and reduced their wages. Papa just so happened to be one of the unlucky people that got fired. After Vanette and I had heard enough, we went to bed, forgetting all about what happened that

For example, when Mama spends Saturday evening counting the money that Papa has brought home and divvying it among their bills, the kids are always as relieved as Mama that they don’t have to go to the bank. Only later did we find out that there was never a bank, but Mama didn’t want to unnecessarily worry her children. They were, after all, only children. Mama was always willing to do anything to make her children happy, including selling the brooch that was her mother’s in order to get Katrin the dresser set that she had been eyeing for her graduation gift. When Christine told Katrin, it was Christine that was admonished – Mama, again, didn’t want to worry her children. Finally, when Aunt Trina came to tell Mama about wanting to marry Mr. Thorkelson, Mama took matters into her own hands because Aunt Trina was afraid her sisters would laugh at her. Mama threatened to tell her sisters’ secrets rather than let her timid sister be laughed at.

First, Mama had a hand in adding to the family quilt when her mother and her sister had first began making it from old clothes and fabrics. She understands where the quilts fabric has come from and knows that it is a representation of their family history. She promises the quilts to

She was always worried with the way that people looked and thought about her. As she was looking around she spotted two hand-made quilts that had scraps of clothing that date back to the Civil War. Dee could see these quilts hanging on her walls. To her surprise, Mama had already promised them to Maggie. Dee becomes very upset and says, “Maggie would be backwards enough to put them to everyday use.”

Papa had left us in early March the spring before for his mistress and ever since, Mama has cried every night without him by her side. This took a toll on my brother and I. I would cry for a week after Papa left, but that was all, however, Henry took it much worse. Papa and him were two peas in a pod. Papa and Henry would play catch in the yard on a sunny day, then afterwards grill steaks. On rainy days, they would build beautiful and flawless model cars. Papa and I never had this time together, I would always be helping Mama with her sewing or cooking.

dress will be scrupulously tailored by a loving hand of mother or grandmother, that, instead of

“Alexis, get down here now!” my mother yelled as she banged the door. “You better stop wearing those ugly jeans and jean jacket!” she yelled even louder.

That evening when my mama did come home, I was all set to surprise her again with the money. But unfortunately as soon as I saw her getting out of the Family Truckster I could tell now wasn’t the best time to approach her. (And yes, we really do have a Family Truckster

“Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice.” This quote by Charles F Kettering embodies what a father son relationship really is. A father is someone a son looks up to, whether in a good or bad light depends on the situation. Father son relationships can take two paths, one where the son does everything the father hates and the others were the son does everything the father does. Fathers play a major role in their son’s life with examples of the relationship found throughout the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe in the characters of Okonkwo, Nwoye and Unoka.

In this Nigerian tale a schoolteacher gets her revenge on a bully headmaster. Cheta is a teacher at a secondary school, widowed, a mother of two, and sole support of her mother-in-law. After one of her children is hospitalized, she takes off a few days to tend to their needs. When she returns to her job she is furious to learn that Mr. Aziza the school’s principal, as a rebuttal, maliciously withholds 5 months of her pay. In this country women have few rights for recourse. After much pleading, Cheta follows Mr. Aziza home. As he sits down to enjoy his dinner of a plate of rice and meat prepared by his servant, he is greeted by Cheta who has already helped herself to his dinner. The headmaster agrees to pay Cheta her due salary, as she