Leaving Home: The First Day

Hello everyone, I have read the chapter called “The First Day.” It is in the book, the book title is “Leaving Home.” I am trying to not summarize the chapter. As I read through the chapter, I thought that the mother made right choice to follow the woman’s advice on getting her daughter enrolled into Walker-Jones school. This woman is member of Ebony, an advertising company, and she greets the new children Seaton Elementary School if the mother didn’t follow the advice, then her daughter probably wouldn’t have education like herself. If mother still tried to enroll her daughter into Seaton Elementary School, they still wouldn’t have accepted her daughter. This probably will also make the daughter have no education. When I was reading this chapter, it made me think about my first day of school, I felt similar to what the daughter felt. I remember when I entered with my mom, seeing many parents signing up their children to enroll in Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD). I remember feeling afraid because there were a lot of children around, and some of them were also crying and complaining. I remember my mom filling out the forms, and bringing the documents, identification, and other materials that is needed. I also thought that I was fortunate that my mom could read and write, because the process is faster. If my mom couldn’t read or write then filling out the forms would’ve lasted more longer than necessary. I was left with few questions after reading the chapter. 

Why doesn’t the mother knows how to read and write? Is it because when she was little, she was from a poor family and couldn’t afford to enroll in any school? Why did the mother stared at the teacher even though she told her daughter to not stare at people? Why did the mother became very serious with her daughter at the end of story? I wondered why the daughter kept hearing her mother’s footsteps over everything that is going on in the school? The significant of the chapter’s title is that it is all about first day at school. That the daughter was with her mother 24/7, now that she goes to school, she will see her mother less. This experience is similar to college students, they see their parents often when they are in high school. But when they become college student, they have to let go their parents. Like when the daughter kept hearing her mother’s footsteps, that is kind of like college student watching their parents leaving in the vehicle. That’s how I see it. There were few description of the characters, such as the daughter wore checkered blue and green cotton dress, with bits of yellow, white, and brown scattered on the dress. The woman from Ebony, wore pearls that is size of huge marbles and that it reaches to her navel. That’s about it.