Ibrahim Mfosah

Research Prospectus

English 1121(Prof. Scanlan)

April 30th, 2020

 

New York Day Women 

 

“New York Day Women,” is a short story by Edwidge Danticat. I chose this story, because it points out relationships between most immigrant parents, and their children. Most often children of immigrants tend to have a different lifestyle than their parents.  They have different values, and needs, and their ways of solving problems. The children tend to end up assimilating to the cultures of their country of residence.  Such is the relationship between Suzette and her mother. They seem to be in conflict with each other, but also sharing a strong love bond.

The story is about a woman and her immigrant mother living in New York City. The mother is an immigrant from Haiti. They have a really interesting relationship between them, as they so often do not agree with each other.  Suzette found her mother wandering the streets of Manhattan, and is surprised to see her mother out in the city during the day. She followed her around to see what she was up to. She discovered that her mother actually goes out of the house, and has her daily routine. Suzette monitored her mother’s movements, and actions recalling things that had happened in the past. Eventually, she ends up going back to work feeling guilty for not calling her mother, and letting her know that she had seen her.

The main characters in the story are Suzette, and her mother. Suzette is a daughter of an immigrant mother who has mostly different views from her mother. Her decision was to be different from her mother. She did not call her when she saw her in the city. Suzette changes her ethics throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, she could be seen with a Feminist ethics, but towards the end her ethics changed to virtue ethics. The mother was an immigrant from Haiti, who was more inclined to her native cultures and values. Her decisions are not quite clear, since she did what she said she did not like. Her ethics are the same throughout the short story. She can be described as having Global ethics, and Utilitarian ethics.