Sandrine's Letter To Tomorrow By Dedra Johnson

It is clear that Francie loves Johnny more than anyone else in the world, nevertheless, she owes her motherly attributes to Sissy Rommely. Sissy, Francie’s aunt, is kind and caring toward all people regardless of the age, race or gender. Francie and all who know Sissy view Sissy as a mother figure, despite her promiscuous reputation. Francie believes that Sissy is loose with men because of her determination to give as much as she can to anyone. Francie adores Sissy, and Sissy’s maternal actions are the inspiration to Francie’s fantasies about starting a family of her own. Sissy makes frequent visits to the Nolan house and constantly checks on the children’s well-being, just as a mother would watch over her own children. If someone mistreats one of the children, such as Francie’s elementary school teacher, Sissy makes sure to give them a piece of her mind. Sissy’s protective nature of the Nolan children shows Francie the lifestyle of a caring mother.

With each thing her father does including punishing her for her owl, and losing his temper frequently, she finds her self more independent because she has her own thoughts and beliefs that are different from her father.

I would not let this happen to me.” (Dillard, P.26) She had realized how people’s youthful appearance deteriorate as they aged. It kind of scared her, because she didn’t want it happening to her. Another difference Dillard observed was religion. She disliked the Catholic schoolchildren, because she was afraid of their beliefs. She expressed thoughts on how uptight the religion was compared to her own when she said “Whatever the pope said, I thought it was no prize, it didn’t work, our Protestant lives were much sunnier, without our half trying.” (Dillard, P. 33). She also talked about changes in Pittsburgh’s appearance. “City workers continually paved the streets, They poured asphalt over the streetcar tracks, streetcar tracks their fathers had wormed between the old riverworn cobblestones, cobblestones laid smack into the notorious nineteenth-century mud.” This message is important because after childhood, you start to grow more aware of the world around you, which is a big change. Children are often oblivious to changes, but as you get older, you notice how things change more up-close and personal.

She is extremely effective in supporting her main idea by supplying the reader with descriptive detail on how she grew up and how certain things took place in rural North Carolina during the 1960’s. These details grasp the reader’s attention immediately by implementing such detail that while reading the words on each page, a visual picture can be envisioned by the reader.

The events in life are ways of growth and development in a person’s life, family or a society. Over time, humans will know the mental, physical and spiritual changes as a result of experiences. These changes can make some broad similarities in life or make a difference to develop independence and make a lifestyle. In these essays: "Notes of a Native Son" by James Baldwin and "Three Spheres" by Lauren Slater are essays that give examples of events that are similar and different in characteristics that can occur in a person’s life in the growth stage.

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

As the story progresses, the theme changes from being comical to being violent. Also, the reader's perception of the grandmother becomes more intense . As O'Connor said, "[t]here is a change of tension from the first part of the story to the second where the Misfit enters, but this is no lessening of reality" ("On" 176). The presence of the Misfit causes the story to become more of a mystery; therefore, the actions of the grandmother also become a mystery because the reader doesn't know what to expect from her. It is a surprise to the reader to find the grandmother become so sincere. The grandmother tries many traditional methods to keep the Misfit from killing

who always been deprived of father-figure, she feels the need to acquire attention from boys in

The girl distrusts her mother and believes her to be out of touch, while helping her father in "his real work" (468). Surprisingly, the girl's desire to avoid the manifestation of her femininity in womanly tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, influences her into feeling that her mother is "plotting now to get [her] to stay in the house [. . ]. and keep [her] from working for [her] father" (469). The girl chooses to dismiss her mother, thereby dismissing her own future role as a housewife.

Additionally, the oh so many effects of society came to mind yet again when the author mentioned “In second grade I wanted A. to be my best friend, or to marry me, or

Lastly, her family betrayed her by not listening to her side of the story after her sister told lies about her, and they betrayed her when they acted as if they did not care if she moved out of the house. In all of these actions, the family itself and certain members of the family are portrayed as uncaring, unsupportive, disrespectful, conniving, deceitful, and hateful to Sister. Through every action of the family, Sister is treated harshly, and she tries to not let this bother her. Yet, anger and bitterness build up inside of her until she cannot take it anymore. Consequently, it built up so much inside of her that it severely affected Sister so profoundly that she moved away from her home to get away from her family.

Cornelia is watching as her brave and independent woman is slowly fading away, mentally and physically. "She was never like this, never like this" (Porter, 517). Cornelia tells the doctor worried as she sees her mother's capacity diminishing. Granny hears this and is spiteful towards Cornelia. Granny has had a hard life and that has made her very independent. For eighty years Granny has taken care of herself, she remembers, and tells herself, "I pay my own bills, and I don't throw my money away on nonsense" (516) and now to have people coming in her room checking in on her, taking about her is unfamiliar and condescending to her. Granny is a very reserved woman one who is almost embarrassed or ashamed of allowing people to know her thoughts, "no use to let them, the kids, knows how silly she had once been" (517).

Sister, convinced that Shirley-T. is not adopted, makes the comment that she looks like their grandfather if he were to ever cut off his beard. So, the first thing Stella-Rondo does when they sit down to eat is attempt to turn Papa-Daddy against Sister. Even though Sister tries to deny what Stella-Rondo says, Papa-Daddy does not listen, but if Sister would argue her innocence without correcting him and getting upset with him, she would have improved the situation. Stella-Rondo easily gets Mama on her side by playing the victim card. Sister thinks that Mama favors her sister, and she points out that “if it had been me that trotted in from Illinois and brought a peculiar-looking child of two, I shudder to think of the reception I’d of got” (362). Mama denies any such accusation and becomes angry when Sister suggests that Shirley-T. might have a problem speaking. After that, Sister is convinced that Stella-Rondo has turned her mama against her while upstairs with her. Uncle Rondo, who has always been particularly fond of Sister, has a bad temper, and Stella-Rondo knows this. Sister concludes that Stella-Rondo would aim to make Uncle Rondo angry with her before dinner even started. Indeed, Sister’s paranoia is not in vain because Stella-Rondo lies to Uncle Rondo saying that it was Sister who made fun of him wearing the kimono. In hearing this, he becomes outraged at Sister and retaliates by throwing lit fireworks

Josie's perspective of her grandmother changes from viewing her as nagging old women to having a loving, caring, respectful relationship with her. The narrative, which is written in first person, enables the reader to see the stages in which her perspective changes as she gains knowledge about her grandmother and also how it is her own actions that

The mother/daughter relationship between Mrs. MacTeer and her two daughters, Claudia and Frieda, is loving and strong. They are taught their own self-worth through their mother’s strength and example, although this love isn’t fully appreciated by the girls until they are older. During Claudia’s illness, she is treated with a mixture of concern and anger. Although Claudia is scolded and her mother complains of cleaning her vomit, at the same time her mother is nursing her, giving her medicine, and checking on her throughout the night. Claudia discovers later that her mother’s anger is not directed at her, but at the world, as she must raise her black family in a world ruled by white culture. She protects her children and equips them for survival in a hostile environment.