Whitney Dale
ENG 1121 (Prof. Scanlan)
Essay 3 First Page
05/24/2020
In “ New York Day Women” by Edwidge Danticat, The two main characters are Suzette and her mom. Suzette is a youthful Haitian lady who works in the city and her mom is a Haitian outsider who is stuck in a rut. The author shows how life is like for immigrants and how they adapt to our society. As you read on the daughter is showing more effort to adapt to society working in the big city but the mother is hesitant to adapt. Suzette accidentally saw her mother who will never go outside of Brooklyn, now strolls the streets in Manhattan. According to the narrator the mother was afraid to take the subway which then, Suzette worried. Due to shock, the daughter began to follow her mother, then finds out the hidden side of her mother. In this short story the speaker’s mother exhibits feminist ethics. The reason is because her taking care of other people children is a traditional normative for women. As Suzette follows her mom, she then loaded with memorable statements of things her mom has advised her before. As she was getting to know her mother in this process as well. For an example she remembered when her mother asked her “would you give up her seat for an old lady like her”. At the beginning of the story she says she would give up her seat sometimes but not all the time. Then in the end her response changed, due to the motivation, appreciation, and respect for her mother. To see the hard work she puts in daily and end up finding out that her own mother was also working hard without her knowing.
In the end I feel like the relationship between her and her mom will always be a growing relationship. That is the reason “New York Day Women” is such a amazing story to read, her mom’s challenges with American culture, envision Suzette’s when she sees her mother strolling in Manhattan. Throughout the story, the relationship between Suzette, and her mother changes. Where the daughter shows deontology ethics. In the beginning she said that she usually wouldn’t give up her seat for an elderly but, in the end she remembers her mother’s words and realizes that giving up her seat is the right thing to do. Which shows how much respect she has for her mother. This was the development in her character, where she had changed her state of mind, and decides to exert kindness the way her mother did. The mother also grew, in terms that according to the narrator, her mother was adjusting to her new life in America and finally began to be a part of the city, as shown from her experiences in the city. I think this is more the relationship that people have with their parents as they grow up. It goes from, confuse love for her mother to Suzette learning to accept, appreciate and love her mother more then she thought.
