Three Little Words By Rhodes-Courter Analysis

Today, some children are neglected; some families just cannot afford the things a child needs, such as clothes and food. Why are children taken away from their homes in the first place? In the memoir, three little words, by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, the author is faced with the removal from her home at a young age. Throughout the memoir, Rhodes-Courter feels extremely abandoned by all who foster her and wants to go home to her mother. Rhodes-Courter’s problem makes her act out in her foster placements and makes her feel lonely when she is removed from the placing days later. Clearly, Rhodes-Courter needs one gift: an imaginary friend. An imaginary friend would provide her with someone to look up to and a friend, so she would not be lonely in

For instance, after Rhodes-Courter sees her mother after a long time, she relates an anecdote: “The moment I saw her, I felt my heart would leap out of my chest” (20). Here, Rhodes-Courter is in desperate need to have contact with someone who cares for her. The author’s use of a hyperbole implies she does feel alone and aches for someone to be by her side. An imaginary friend would aid in the process of Rhodes-Courter not feeling completely alone. Also, having an imaginary friend would have calmed the author, and her heart would not have “leaped out of her chest” when she saw her mother. At the home, Rhodes-Courter exclaims, “My yearning was like an insect bite. If I left it alone, I would stop noticing it; but if I focused on it, it would drive me crazy” (48). The author compares her yearning for her mother and an insect bite because the distance of someone who loves her is “eating” at her. Like an insect bite, it can “eat” at someone if they were to start scratching at it. Rhodes-Courter is in desperate need of someone who cares for her, or she may drift away and forget about her “bug bite”, until it is gone. An imaginary friend would prevent Rhodes-Courter from focusing on her yearning for her mother because the imaginary friend would never leave her side, which would not allow Rhodes-Courter to think of her mother. In addition, Rhodes-Courter expresses her feelings for her mother when she states, “They kept me away from you for so long! I would have done anything to see you” (55). Obviously, Rhodes-Courter misses her mother and wants to be with her dearly. An imaginary friend would be helpful because Rhodes-Courter would not have reacted that way toward her mother if she has a friend