Summary And Analysis: The Undercurrent By Kellie Young

She saw how all of her decisions and experiences had been grooming her to be Zoe’s mother and to teach Zoe how to be a confident and self-accepting of who

She seemed to have been in denial that she has a parent that doesn’t love her and a mother that isn't on earth anymore. She begins to see how her mother didn't actually live a perfect life. She denies the truth about her mother and this quote shows that she really hates herself more for believing she killed her mom and believing she once had a perfect mom. Chapter 13, Page 262 “I looked at the row of seashells on the window ledge, knowing how truly they belonged here even though we were a hundred miles from the ocean.”

In the beginning of the book, that she explained her experience and life, which she was struggling because she showed her emotions

One of the multiple problems Jeannette faced as a child was her irresponsible mother. When most kids dream of their future, they decide what they want to be. However, Jeanette decided what she did not want to be, “I

The passage “The Undercurrent” written by Kellie Young, was penned to display the effects of influences in a person’s life. In the reading, Young imparts a tale about her overprotective mother. In the onset of the story, Young is paddling through a grand ocean on a surfboard but her mother’s voice will not leave her head. The voice relentlessly spiels on about the dangers of the ocean, poisonous sea creatures, and how surfing is such a life threatening activity as Young paddles further out into the waters. Young then begins to explain all of the ways her mother has kept her sheltered from the outside world and how the mother seems to always envision the worst possible case scenario. As the story progresses, Young begins to illustrate the ways she herself has started to become worried about any situation. For

In this quote, she realizes her attitude was bad when she was with her family, and since they died she realizes she didn’t stand in good faith.

Jeannette listened to her parents, of course, as a child you feel dependent on them. They would often only spend months at one tons only to move to the next when the family’s father, Rex Wells, lost his job. Little Jeannette was left alone with her brother, who was only a year younger than her, they would go looking for trouble as young kids would. Their parents would allow them to do what they felt they wanted as long as they were home by the time the street lights came on. Her parents taught their children to not be dependent on them for everything, to learn harder schooling, and learn to be strong when the world seems to stop. All of these are great things to teach but the way the children

This is shown by the quote “When dad was not telling us all about the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do” (Walls 25). She had faith in her father’s extraordinary ideas, but denied the fact that the life her parents provided for her was harmful to her physical and emotional health. This is shown by the quote “I told my dad I would never loose faith in him, and I promised myself that I never would” (Walls 117). She was refusing the truth about her fathers drinking and kept convincing herself hat they would change and provide a better life for her and her

Specifically, when her mom left the kids alone with her father. "Before mom left, she gave me two hundred dollars. That was plenty... I did the math... I worked up a budget and calculated...I bought food and made meals for Brian, Maureen, and me." (Walls 209-210). She was accountable for keeping up with budgeting and raising her siblings on her own. These tasks an adult would do, and when she grew older, she knew how to take care of herself because of her experience when her mom left the kids alone (Walls

She said “...perhaps even on Sundays when I was in my mother’s womb, my mother pointed across I Street to Seaton as we come and go to Mt. Carmel” (Jones, 1990’s, p.1). This is an anomaly because it she says she even remembers when she was in her mother’s womb. This shows that even before she was born, her mother had an idea of where she wanted her child to go to school. She thought ahead and began to plan a future for her child. “...my mother continues to pull out the documents with the purposefulness of a magician pulling out a long string of scarves” (Jones, 1990’s, p.2). The mother had everything ready for her child to get into school. When a parent wants to get their child an education, when they go to sign them up for school, they will be prepared and have all paperwork for the school. The parent cares about their child's education and

She was forced to grow up in a short period of time because of her father’s

For those who can’t recognize the disadvantages blacks have, any movement that call for equal rights and black mobility may be seen as an extreme action trying to cause conflict. For leaders who advocated for change like Malcolm X or Jesse Jackson were labeled in negative terms, but they were trying to obtain the same rights that whites have. In the case of Malcolm X, he said “We assert the right of self-defence by whatever means necessary, and reserve the right of maximum retaliation against our racist oppressors, no matter what the odds against us are” (Malcolm X, 747). What Malcolm X is advocating for reminds me of Sylvester Carrier actions in the movie Rosewood. Sylvester was viewed as an out of control black man with a gun during the shootout at his house. In truth, he was trying to protect his family

Every parent has to go through this stage, I think. Furthermore, she went on to talk about how her refused to obey her mom and eventually disowned

knew in order to detach herself from society’s standards and her emotional attachment to people,

"How could she tell the family that she didn't belong with them, that she was destined for something larger, that she believed she was supposed to be eccentric and powerful and all alone in the world?" (pg. 14-15)