“The Estrangement”

I was tasked with writing a small excerpt to prove I understood the reading material assigned.

Wow, what a moving piece; not all in a positive light either. The pain is not easily overcome knowing that someone would ever feel so disparaged by their own mother to say with great certainty that they would rather be dead than spend eternity with them (265). The piece was very short, and the only real answer revealed about why the author would have such strong oppositional feelings towards her mom, came from a phone conversation she and her mother had had, which was not the first, but definitely the last time she would let her mother tell her that her accomplishments of becoming a responsible and respectable woman did not amount to much, that the life she lived was nothing more than a silly show, and that she truly wished her daughter dead (264). To fathom the sheer horror of a mother/child relationship such as the one these two shared is undeniably soul-crushing. What would cause a mother to feel this way about her children? I know there are many - too many - parents who treat their children less than good, and this is why (however, not always) we have had 18 shootings this year already and it has only been 46 days. The love in this world seems to dissipate at a rate that cannot be measured but can be seen and felt by every single one of us who inhabit this world. We continue to have to endure those who spread hate for whatever reason they feel it necessary. The Black Eyed Peas sang it best, "Where is the Love?"

Work Cited

Kincaid, Jamaica. "The Estrangement." The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines, edited by Gilbert H. Muller, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York, NY, 2014, 12th ed, pp. 263-265.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Though not familiar with "The Estrangement", I do know a bit about strained relationships with a mother. As it is in life, we're not all good at what we do. It's so easy to find one's self performing the most important job in the world, parenting, yet there are no qualifications required. As always, your writing is clean and correct.

[Kelli April]

Your kind words are tremendously appreciated. I felt real heartbreak writing about this story.