Good Times of My life

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“Good times” The poem “good times” by Lucille Clifton mainly focuses on poverty. Even though my life experience is very similar to that of the narrator, I lived better life than the narrator because my family was in a decent financial situation. My life before I came to the US resembles the life of the person in “good times”. I can completely relate to the lifestyle described by Clifton because my father fulfilled all my needs such as food, room and education and my mother took care of all the family as a very diligent house wife and as a good mother. As we had extended family, my grandfather and grandmother were always there to entertain us and take of us incase our parents were around. All these factors have contributed in me having good times during my childhood. However I was aware of the fact that I could not be depended on my parents forever because they were getting older and I knew I had the obligation to support them when I grow older. In addition, I wanted my children, when I would have them in near future, to live the good times that I lived and to offer them the happiness that I received from my family. There are many instances in the poem that suggest the narrator was in an economically disadvantageous situation. His/her father was paying the rent for him/her. “The light is back on” clearly suggests that the electricity was cut off more likely because he/she was unable to pay for the utilities. In addition, the insurance company agent probably came to make sure that the family could afford the insurance for the house. All these add up to prove that the family was poor and living a difficult life. Now I would like to discuss how my situation was similar but simultaneously more economically sound to that of the na... ... middle of paper ... ...rious celebration days such as birthday of a family member. We would play classical music because my grandparents loved them. Then sometime my grandfather would dance with my grandmother and we would all cheer and sing together. It's interesting that the poem shares very similar ideas and situations that I lived as a child. It feels as if the poem is telling my own story. Exactly like the poem states, those days were great and the memories are unforgettable. In conclusion, observing the narrators situation I can definitely claim that my life when I was staying with my parents was better than his/hers. However, it is worth noting that almost everyone goes through difficult times. Both the good times and bad times are important elements of our life. Therefore, we should always learn from our experiences and apply this acquired knowledge to improve our life standard.

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