After reading Edward P. Jones’s “The First Day ” I can say that the writer had a very good way of painting multiple aspects of the main character’s point of view at once in my head. The first was when Jones hints that she was young enough to not be ashamed of her mother, which at first I thought was just to hint that it was looking at the past, but we later see that she is too young and innocent to realize what her mother is saying. Stuff such as “One monkey doesn’t stop the show” would not be a thing you would want to hear your mother say, but because the narrator was so young she saw nothing wrong with it. We also can get emotionally attached by seeing her mother get upset when having to drop her daughter off at school for the first time, promising that she would come back and add a lot of emotion to that part of the story. If I had to ask a question, it would be at what point in the narrator’s life did she lean to be ashamed of her mother, and why?
About
Professor: Jessica Penner
Email: creative.writing.citytech2@gmail.com
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM. I’ll be available through Zoom and will send an invitation via email that you should keep all semester. Try to join my meeting at the start of the hour, not at the end—since I may be talking to other students or have another appointment after the hour is up. If those times don’t work with your schedule, we can schedule a different time. This means you’ll have to schedule an appointment in advance. I suggest you have multiple times in mind, since your schedule may not mesh with mine!
I agree with your analysis of the author’s skill. He is an expert at creating direct perspectives using various literary elements including settings, diction, and even syntax. Also, the mother helps invest the reader in the story with the amount of effort and care she puts in to get the best for her child. The caring parent-to-child relationship was very warming.