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Life as a teenage mom
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It was a beautiful afternoon on the bay of Huntington Beach. Just what would be expected of any regular day in California. The sun was shining inexplicably, as if it knew what was coming, the sky was clear with one cloud across the horizon, the sand was boiling and I could literally feel the bottom of my foot melting away. The air was scented with the sweetness of spring and refreshed by gentle breezes. There are families everywhere I look, playing endlessly with their kids, throwing beach balls around, tanning their bodies until it turns to ebony, walking their precious dogs, and riding their bicycles until their muscles deteriorated. The beach is adult’s playground. She appeared, emerged, surfaced, arrived fashionably late flaunting, showing, presenting, announcing her long, extended, elongated, svelte legs. Amanda stood at five foot eight. Her body was well taken care of and you could assume she spends hours in the gym. Her skin was tan, milky, and full of freckles all at the same time, her blonde hair extended all the way to her tiny hips. With a single blink, her piercing green-honey eyes would speak millions of words. She smelled like a manufactured Barbie fresh out of a box, a soft smell of vanilla and lavender. Her two and only treasures had tagged along as I expected they would. “Harmony put your sandals on, you are going to burn your feet”. Her voice was sweet and soft, undeniably the voice of a caring mother. “Sorry I’m late, I had to stop by the pharmacy to get Adam’s medicine. Harmony and Adam are her rock and her shoulder to lean on. Harmony now seven, remembers the nights her mother would stay up all night crying, turning herself upside down, loosing herself waiting for something that she hoped was the end to ... ... middle of paper ... ... a teenager's life. Most of the girls overlook their dreams of happy marriage, college is most of the time out of the question, and graduating High School becomes a goal the majority of teenage moms don't attain. Amanda took another exit out, she opted for the exit where everybody comes out a winner. It is true that teenagers are inexperienced and often need help in raising their kids, but they’ve got just as much love for their children as any other mother who isn’t a teenager does. A baby gives something to look forward to and something that gives meaning to life. Yes, it is hard but as Amanda herself said it. “I only regret the things that I didn’t do in my life, and I without my kids I don’t know where my life would be, maybe it would have been better, but to me it doesn’t matter. I’ve got all I need next to me”, as she hugs them both warmly at the same time.
However, I disagree with Patrick’s decision of sending Amanda back to her own mother because he thinks parenting should be a right. I know that every mother loves her child. Helene also loves her daughter. But it does not mean that she can be a good mother and she has the ability to take care of her child. In the beginning, Helene was not really concerned about her daughter’s disappearance. Her daughter had disappeared for three days already. She could still ...
Many different aspects of life characterize motherhood. Traditions along with society influence the role of motherhood. Carol Stacks' "All our Kin," is an essay about the "structuring of kin groups" (1974, p.47). In the society, if the mother is not mature enough to raise the child, a close female relative takes on the role of the mother; whereas, the man has the option of choosing to claim the child and take on the responsibilities of fatherhood or he can imply that the father could be anyone, which is a socially acceptable reason. Ruth Horowitz' "The Expanded Family and Family Honor," portrays a Mexican Family as a "nuclear family unit" within an "expanded family" (1983, p.64). After marriage, motherhood is an expected dominating role in the woman's life. The man is portrayed as independent and dominating over his immediate family. Motherhood, accepted in both societies, is characterized by the woman's behavior before birth, her role as the caretaker as established by society and the influence of the father, and the bonds she forms with her children.
Amanda Calkins is someone that very few people would consider a role model. A twenty one year old girl in culinary school who doesn’t have much to her name other than a beat up yellow volkswagen beetle, a cat named Dinah, and her weekly pack of marlboro red cigarettes that she carries around in her black leather purse. She is always running late, constantly swearing, and has the most unpredictable temper. Her skin is white as the snow, and her edgy black shaggy hair frames her face giving off a very mysterious look. Tattoos and piercings cover her rawboned and angular body, and her baggy clothes make her look all skin and bones. She is a very independent woman who doesn’t let the thoughts of anyone else interfere with her life and has always seemed to have a craving for rebellion and adventure.
The Amanda Wingfield that we come to know is overbearing, worrisome, and full of regret. Amanda’s background of fortune and popularity has made it extremely difficult for Amanda to accept the life she has on hand, and to say the least she is not satisfied with the way her life has turned out. Amanda often relives her past in order to cope with the present, and she is described as a “disillusioned romantic” by Nancy Tischler (Fambrough 100). The statement Amanda made in (Scene 1) attests to her wealth and admirations.
They discover the beach, and it is as beautiful and idyllic as it is reputed to be. Yet over time it becomes clear that beach culture, as Richard calls it, has troubling, even deadly, undercurrents. Spellbinding and hallucinogenic, The Beach is a look at a generation in their twenties, who, burdened with the legacy of the preceding generation and saturated by popular culture, long for an unruined landscape, but find it difficult to experience the world firsthand.
It was the middle of winter, and to get away from the cold my family and I decided to take a vacation somewhere warm and enjoyable. We decided to go to Florida and enjoy the warm and beautiful beaches. I pictured the ocean as being a place of peace and serenity. It was my first time visiting the ocean, and all I hoped for was the ocean to be as beautiful as the pictures I had seen of it. As we arrived at Clearwater Beach in Florida, the eagerness of seeing this peaceful place was rising. I couldn’t wait to smell the fresh salty air, and feel the soft sand between my toes.
Throughout the play, she recalls her glorious days as a younger lady. With her constant descriptions of what would seem to be a glorious southern social life, it is easy to presume she had a satisfying youth. This lifestyle is opposite to Laura’s. Amanda seems to feel as though Laura is missing out on a glorious life, although Laura does enjoy keeping up with her glass figurines. Through the search for a proper suitor, and the attempts for her daughter to attend business school, Amanda begins to lose hope for her daughter to have a “good” life, or becoming a wife of a good man. While she attempts to push Laura to reach her expectations, she is simultaneously trying to reel in her spacey and imaginative son. Although it is not pin-pointed why Amanda’s husband departed, she seems to have an unsettling feeling that Tom may do the same. While Laura is a push over for Amanda to easily control, Tom speaks his mind. This characteristic, paired with his drinking habits, makes her concerned about Tom possibly starting behaving like the man who left her. Amanda is trying to stay attached to her fleeting son who is the breadwinner of the household, but by encouraging gentlemen-like behavior, and never taking interest in his ambitions, Amanda is slowly pushing Tom further and further away from
As I stand with my toes buried deep in the cream-colored sand, I gaze at the waves from the shore. They look fun and almost innocent as they crash over one another. I can taste the salt in the air and watch rainbows glisten through the prisms of the ocean’s spray. The warm ocean water toward the shore is covered with foam from the rumbling waves. Young children and their families play in the gritty, bronze sand.
Amanda lives through her children to help make her life more bearable. Amanda living through her children brings out the bad and the good. One of Amanda’s good traits is the fact that she gives all to her children. She shows this when she says “ I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position.” That is her life’s main concern. She frets and worries about her children to no end. She wants the best for her children.
While this insistence can be seen as maternal worry, since Laura dropped out of business school and does not have the confidence to pursue another occupation, Amanda seems to be driven more by society and its expectations. Amanda lives in the past, recalling her gentleman callers, and she seems shocked that Laura hasn’t had any. When Tom is around, Amanda describes
Due to the fact that Amanda feels financially insecure, she pushes Tom to take the place that her husband used to fill, which means keeping his job and being the primary supporter for the family. Amanda tells Tom, “What right have you got to jeopardize your job? Jeopardize the security of all of us? How do you think we’d manage if you were-“(Williams 23). Amanda puts pressure on Tom to take on the position his father should have had, because she feels that she chose the wrong man to marry.
I often heard momma sing this song as she cleaned the dishes. I never understood much of what Momma talked about but I knew if momma said it. It was important.
I laid in the cotton blanket, staring at the grey ceiling. It was like every other basic hospital room. This included the beeping machines, pastel curtains, and that oh so marvelous smell that is associated with the place. The only thing that was remotely interesting was the window. Not the window itself but the view. The room overlooked dazzling crimsons and yellows of the fall trees that were similar to a blazing fire. It was almost enough to distract me from my unconscious sister.
Amanda loves her children and tries her best to make sure they do not follow her path to downfall. Unfortunately, while she is trying to push her children toward her ideals of success, she is also pushing them away. Amanda Wingfield is a kind woman stuck in the wrong place and time; she is trying to make her children’s life perfect while attempting to get a re-do on her love life with Laura and forcing Tom to fill the role that her husband abandoned. Amanda Wingfield was never meant to be in the situation that she finds herself in.
When a teenage girl becomes pregnant, her world shatters knowing she might have to raise this child on her own. According