“My Mother Never Worked” by Bonnie Smith-Yackel illustrates the feelings of frustration and anger that consumed her after being informed over the telephone by a social security worker that her mother did not work. In reality, her mother worked more strenuously than anyone else she had ever known. Working on a family farm, she provided for her children while caring for cattle and crops. Her life was extremely similar to the life I was blessed with, with my mother working as a housewife who was left with three children and started receiving her education before going back into the workforce.
My mother became a single parent when I was nine, 2007 was a year full of disaster for my family and I. Mom lost her sister, my aunt, at the young age of forty-seven. Quickly after, my father left along with the savings. How would a mother with no degree or job move on? She did not have a college education, only having just earned her General Education Diploma within that year. She mothers three children, goes to school full-time including night classes, and takes care of all house and yard necessities. Thus, she adequately fills the position of two parents with merely the aid of her two oldest children - only seventeen and twenty-two.
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The reply is generally one word: “Oh.” My mother, as a thin framed woman, manages to use a weed-eater, give our dogs their shots, fix sinks and faucets; all the work a man or father struggles to accomplish. These feats were displayed when our house was hit by a tornado two years ago. She was outside cleaning up for days and checking the roof for damage. Not only can my mom take apart a dog house bigger than she, wash it, and reassemble it, but she can also read my younger brother his favorite books, quiz him on his schoolwork, and cook meatloaf. My mom works incredibly hard in everything she does, including her school
Hays, Sharon. (2003). Flat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. New
The article “Back At Square One’: As States Repurpose Welfare Funds, More Families Fall Through Safety Net” was written by Peter S. Goodman. The article is about the struggle that people have all over the United States. Many of these individuals struggle to provide food, a decent place to live, and other common standards of living to their families. Goodman writes of a few women but mainly focuses on a woman named Brianna Butler who is struggling. In the reading there are many struggles she faces such as getting funding and getting help. Her major dilemma is that in order to receive financial assistance she needs to attend a four-week class, but no one will watch her child so she cannot go to the classes, so she does not receive the money. According to the article There are thousands of people who experience daily strife and when the United States economy experienced trouble many businesses had to lay people off and this created an even
Welfare reform caused many families surviving with the help of the government to go out and look for jobs despite their need for childcare that they could not afford. Barbara Ehrenreich, a journalist with a PhD, decided to find out how life would be like living on minimum wage labor. During her journey, we see that labor has not changed majorly because laborers are not paid fairly and they are declined their rightfully owned rights. Although women are allowed in the workplace, an eight hour work day is established, and we have a minimum wage, many are still struggling to make it because the system simply does not work unless you are running the show.
Morrison , B. (2011). Innocent: Confession of a Welfare Mother . (1st ed.). Baltimore,MD: Apprentice House
in the first two years of school in United States. She worked very hard and checked every
The main character in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, is certainly the brilliant and resourceful Francie Nolan, however, three other characters in the novel deserve credit for guiding Francie through her troublesome childhood. Francie Nolan grows up in the slums of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the early 1900s. Despite Francie’s lifestyle of poverty and distress, she manages to work several respectable jobs, attend college and, fall in love. Although Francie works hard, she would not have been able to survive without the encouragement and support of Johnny Nolan, Sissy Rommely and Katie Nolan.
Harris, Kathleen. “Work and Welfare Among Single Mothers in Poverty.” The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 99 Sept. 1993. 317-52.
The people that David Shipler interviewed are the type of people seen every day working at restaurants, Wal-Mart, and gas stations. They do not fit into the prejudice description of mooching welfare recipients. They are people on the edge of the poverty line that are affected by a multitude of issues that snowball into a lifetime of a constant debt and crisis. Shipler studies these working po...
In this book, we get just a glimpse into some facets of the life of a low-wage worker. We never read of car repair issues or meet anyone who uses public transportation to get to work. We also never hear of childcare issues, often a major problem for single mothers. Overall, it was an in-teresting read. However, anyone can learn much of this same information and more by simply talking to the “invisible” people who serve us every day.
Many mothers, regardless of age or situation, share sympathetic life ideals. They all share the common goal of raising their children wholesome; they want to create an environment of love, nurture, and support for their children as well. A mother’s effort to implant good values in her children is perpetual; they remain optimistic and hope that their children would eventually become prosperous. However, some women were not fit to be mothers. Thus, two different roles of a mother are portrayed in As I Lay Dying written by William Faulkner. Faulkner uses the literary technique of first person narrative with alternating perspectives. By doing so, Faulkner adds authenticity and the ability to relate (for some) to the two characters Addie Bundren and Cora Tull. The first person narrative acts as an important literary technique because it allows the reader to experience the opposing views of Addie and Cora; they are both mothers who act as foils to each other because of their diverse opinions and outlooks on motherhood, religion and life.
In her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, Betty Rollin emphasizes the pressures of motherhood that society puts on women and highlights the fact that becoming a mother is not a natural instinct.
In the essay My Mother Never Worked, Bonnie Smith-Yackel writes about a personal experience that challenges the government’s policies and the definition of work. The essay starts off with a simple phone call between a social security worker and the daughter of a recently deceased woman. The daughter is trying to receive her mother’s death -benefit check. Next, the author tells the story of her mother’s life with points such as love, hardship, and farming. In this section of the writing, readers discover that the mother had a total of eight children, grew gardens, raised livestock, sewed all the family’s clothes and blankets.
Has anyone ever asked you: “Who is most important to you”? To me the most wonderful mother in my life, no one can replace her in my heart. My mother, who is very nice and gentle, helps me and has always been there for me when I need her. My mother loves me very much. She is strict and educated me to become a good person. I can’t say how much love her. I am grateful to her because she gave me birth, brings me love and helped me grow up. But you know she just takes care of me a lot. Every day she tells me the same words. If you were me, you would feel very tired. I am a very happy child having my mother. I feel too tired to listen to her words, but imagine one day I don’t see her any longer and listen to her voice. What would I feel?
Men and women are working harder than ever to survive in today's tough economy. It's a big challenge for low and middle class families to survive. To meet growing demands, it's getting difficult for families to depend on one income. To contribute to family income, mothers are coming forward and joining the workforce. Working mothers are the one who takes care of the family and work outside the home. They may be a single mothers or married mothers. Working mothers usually work to support their family financially. Some of the mothers work, just because they are more career-oriented. Working mothers may work part time or full time. Women are now the primary or only income source for 40% of US households with kids, according to a new Pew survey (Wang, Parker and Taylor, ch. 1). They play a major role in raising their family and doing household chores. There are many reasons that why mothers should work.
While in school, Mom didn’t have it to easy. Not only did she raise a daughter and take care of a husband, she had to deal with numerous setbacks. These included such things as my father suffering a heart attack and going on to have a triple by-pass, she herself went through an emergency surgery, which sat her a semester behind, and her father also suffered a heart attack. Mom not only dealt with these setbacks but she had the everyday task of things like cooking dinner, cleaning the house and raising a family. I don’t know how she managed it all, but somehow she did.