Edward P. Jones "The First Day"

When reading this story, I imagined when I was a little child; I used to cry when my mother walked away after dropping me at an elementary school (just because my mother and I have a strong relationship). In old days, my family found very hard to communicate with me because my family did not know sign language much. Therefore, my mother brought me to a special school in the small town of Fiji. After spending a decade at that same school, my family moved to a city where I attended the special school. I learnt a lot from that new school and realized that my old special school was not very similar to my new school due to the education curriculum.

On page 16, the author demonstrated that the mother has learned that the money is the beginning and end of everything in this world. My mother always told me the education is very important to me for survival in despite of my disability and lack of financial problem. She tried to make sure I am educated properly. After I graduated from high school, I was surprised to know that my mother has just finished her grade 10, not graduating from high school and college. Also the same thing happened to my father, he had not finished high school and college. At first I felt unhappy due to the lack of educational support from my parents because they couldn’t understand what the information said about on my exam papers. That made me more struggled to ask many people, including my friends, teachers for assistance. But later on, I feel good and happy to help my parents when they are in need. My parents can’t afford to pay college fees here in Washington DC. That is why my parents advised and helped me looking for a scholarship to support me. Finally I won a scholarship to study here at Gallaudet University. Therefore, I am learning not to be ashamed of my parents.

When I read this story, I realized it was an old-fashioned story from 1950’s because in the story, the girl’s mother has spent some time, plaiting the girl’s hair. Plaited hair shows a good symbol of time-line. Also, the mother offered fifty cents to the woman who helped her filled out the form for her daughter. In old days, people used a small amount of money to trade with something else. Now days, people have to pay expensive fees for the paperwork.

Here's the link for a blog video in ASL version