Short Story : A Large Flowing Black Gown

Ronita had returned to school, 2 years after Katrina, when she went into labor. The local schools, overwhelmed by thousands of children displaced from New Orleans did not welcome more students, especially with babies, and her help with her youngest brother was needed at home. She liked high school and had hoped to graduate, baby and all, but worried her mother and grandmother could not manage without her.

The journey begins when the family first moves to America through a work visa that is obtained through her dad. The family has high hopes for what is to come. In this point of time, they are convinced that life will be much easier and that their daughter will have a smooth sailing special education that only America could give. Once the family moves into the Redwood apartments they are quick to reinsure that it wasn’t what they had hope for.

The sadness of not being able to accomplish a goal can sometimes ruin your life or someone else’s.  Marilyn, the main character's mother pressures Lydia  into accomplishing her life goal of  becoming a doctor just like her mother wanted to accomplish her life goal  because her future was decided by fate and her own mother. Marilyn says, “For the rest of her life, this would be what Marilyn thought of first when she thought of her mother. Her mother who had never left her hometown eighty miles from Charlottesville, who always wore gloves outside the house, and who never, in the 81 years Marilyn could remember, sent her to school without a hot breakfast. Who never mentioned Marilyn’s father after he left, but raised her alone. Who, when Marilyn earned a

During that time in Liberia, there was a civil war going on causing her mother to make that decision of sending her only daughter away for a better life. Although she traveled with Pan Am, her family entrusted her to a man she didn’t know to bring to her extended family. The possessions she departed with were a suitcase some articles of African clothing and a purse. Her first twenty-four hours were scared and frightening. Once she arrived in New York, she had to take a bus to Providence, Rhode Island to meet her family. On the bus ride, in shock and terror she thought America was depressing by its appearance. Due to it being winter, she expected warm weather with blossomed flowers and

There was one moment in the book where she had to make probably one of the most difficult choices in her life, yet she did not hesitate to make that choice. Jeannette’s older sister, Lori, always wanted to move to New York to escape her delusional parents. However, she did not have enough money to pay for a bus ticket, wiping out any hope that she had. " ‘I'll never get out of here,’ Lori kept saying. ‘I'll never get out of here.’ ‘You will,’ I said. ‘I swear it.’ I believed she would. Because I knew that if Lori never got out of Welch, neither would I.” Then one day, Jeannette was offered $200 and a bus ticket back to Welch to take care of a woman’s two toddlers in Iowa for the summer. Instead, she insisted that the woman, Mrs. Sanders, should take Lori and her payment be a “bus ticket to New York City.” The fact that Jeannette easily made the decision of sacrificing her ticket for Lori amazes me; she knew how important the trip the New York was for her, so she wanted to make that dream happen. When Lori left, Jeannette still did not give up on her dream to go to New York and become a journalist. She joined just about “every extracurricular event at the school” to gain the attention of colleges, particularly in New York. The motivation that can be found in this is that you cannot give up on your ambitions

As told through her mother’s perspective, one will learn that Trina is a eighteen year old female of African-American decent and resides with her mother in Los Angeles, California. Trina’s parents, Keri and Clyde, provide their daughter with an upper/upper middle class lifestyle due to her father’s sudden successful career and her mother’s successful resale clothing business in Los Angeles. This well rounded and beautiful adolescent has recently graduated from high school with high grades and was accepted to Brown University, however, due to her summer manic episodes, Trina has not attended college yet.

In the book, Kisses from Katie, Katie Davis describes her remarkable journey through following God’s call for her life. During her senior year of high school, Katie traveled to Uganda as a part of a three-week mission trip. It was during that trip that she felt the initial tug of God directing the call for her life. She instantly fell in love with the country and could’t wait for the next chance she had to return. So when she was just 19 years old, Katie uprooted herself from her life in small-town Tennessee to move to Uganda full-time. As a promise she made to her parents, she was only supposed to live there for one year.

Raicine Rodriguez was born in San Bernardino California; she was the middle daughter of three girls. Her siblings and she had all different personalities; Raicine was the one who always seemed to think things through, perhaps a little too much. She lived her life as full as she allowed herself, while always thinking about the “what ifs,” before she gave her one-hundred percent. It was a very cautious act, but it held her back in many ways as well. Once in college it took her several years to decide what she wanted to major in. In her mid-twenties, she moved to Nashville for a job. Here was able to figure out the kind of person she wanted to be in life. All of her friends and family were in California so she was able to concentrate solely on

Unfortunately, her father expected her to go to college and earn a degree like her brother Sheldon and sister Bunny. Toni, unlike her siblings, did poor while she was at UH Manoa and had to move back home to Hilo. Her father Harry was extremely disappointed and no longer had high hopes for her. When she moved back, her sexual encounters with family friends Wyatt and Maverick Santos grew and she became closer with longtime Haole family friend Billy who was six years younger than her. Her relationship with Billy blossomed into mutual feelings for one another; however, Toni refused to take it to the next level due to the fact that Billy was younger than her, a Haole, and was considered as family. As months past, Toni found herself pregnant from either one of the Santos brothers with her family deeply ashamed by her actions. She did not finish college, was not married, and now she was pregnant. When her baby was born, things started to slowly change for Toni. Her baby became the joy of her life and her father’s new found joy and hope that had once died when Toni did not meet his expectations. Toni later became the co-owner of her father’s business and finally felt accepted into her own family and community. Toni’s experiences is indeed also reflective of our highs and lows in life and is something that most, if not all of society can relate to.

Peggy Sturmfels was adopted in the early 1990’s when she was two weeks old. Her birth parents were just teenagers and couldn’t even take care of themselves therefore they felt it would be in Peggi’s best interest if they allow her to get the best life possible with someone who could provide for her. They opted for a closed adoption because at the time no one knew she was even pregnant. Her adoptive parents John and Gabrielle Sturmfels agreed with Peggy’s birth parents and vowed not to tell her about the adoption. To her birth parent’s wishes John and Gabrielle gave Peggy the best life a child could imagine, she was their little princess and they treated her like royalty. Peggy was sent to the best schools and graduated high school as valedictorian. After graduation John and Gabrielle had a huge surprise for Peggy; they were going to allow her to attend the college of her dreams: UCLA. Peggi had dreamed to go there but her parents did not feel comfortable with her being so far away from home. Three months later Peggi had packed up and had started her first semester of college. She was doing very well and passing all her classes so she felt it was time for her to have a night to just relax and have some fun. Her friend Abby suggested that they go to one of the Frat parties close to their dorm. Peggy agreed and they went. At the party there was drugs and alcohol everywhere and Peggi didn 't feel comfortable but Abby insisted she stayed and referred to her as a “party pooper”.

“Education was her dream of dreams, a passion so strong it was almost a disease, and she infected not only her own children with it but generations of little Morrisons yet unborn” (23). Kate, raised in such a family, naturally considers being intelligent and having education as a symbol of success in life. After receiving her university degrees, Kate realizes that Great-Grandmother’s desire for knowledge is not without reason: “the world was spreading itself out before me; I felt that I could go anywhere, do anything. Be anyone” (188). From Kate’s perspective, no obstacle can obstruct her ambitions from this point onward since success in attaining education is the ultimate goal in life, as believed by the Morrisons. Kate’s faith in education, inherited from Great-Grandmother, is also the major reason behind her admiration for Matt – he is the most brilliant of all four children and resembles Great-Grandmother the most. “It seemed to me that the only time those fierce old eyes showed any sign of softening was when Matt walked into the room.” (27) Kate

For instance, Katharine has contacted the Family and Children’s Services to discuss the option of giving her unborn baby up for adoption. She is going against the wishes of her and James’ parents by not wanting to marry James and raise the baby together. Also, Katharine is very determined and set on the option on pursuing adoption. She wishes to give the baby a better future while allowing her and James to achieve a better life as well. In addition, Katharine is considering a career as a travel agent and knows that she would be able to handle college. In regards to her home life and upbringing, Katharine was face with many challenges. Her home was chaotic with her mother leaving the family and her father moving the family so often. Katharine is behind in school as a result, but is hopeful that she will be able to finish school and pursue a higher education. Due to her family history, Katharine has a strained relationship with her mother for leaving the family and with her father for always taking her mother back. Although Katharine has faced numerous challenges in her life, she is hopeful that she can create a better life for her and the baby by placing him/her up for adoption.

Past events can have a great impact on the later generations of a family. To demonstrate, in my family nobody thought going to school was useful in becoming successful. My family originated from Punjab, India, where everyone used to think agriculture was the way to success. Education started in my family with my parents, but they only completed high school. If my parents would have completed college, things would be much easier.I am going to be the first person in my family that is going to attend a university. If my grandparents or my parents got a college degree, who knows how I would be living right now. In A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, the decisions that Ida makes in her life shape Christine’s life

     Throughout the story there are several aspects of the Protagonist’s character that play a major role in the shaping of her future. During her childhood she

The young girl’s name is Ivy Calhoun. Her world got flipped upside down when her mom told her she and her new husband were moving to his hometown. She had already had to listen to them talk about how much they wanted to go but she didn’t