THE FIRST DAY

     There is always a first of everything. A first dance, first kiss, first steps,first words. But there is nothing quite exciting then the first day of kindergarten. When you get up in the morning thinking I'm grown now no more nap times and milk and cookies. But what if your first day was like the protagonist in this story? The First Day by Edward P. Jones is about a little girl who learns some new information about her mother that changes her life for ever. In the story the main character is getting ready to got to school in her blue and green cotton dress. With her hair smelling like Dixie Peach every time she turns it. While there walking the little girl is talking about (written in first person) how her mother put on this perfume her father gave her before he left them. The father is a very miner character in the passage. Any ways as they are walking they come to a school across the street from her mothers church and they have a little difficulty. What is she going to do? Lets find out shall we.

As the story begins we learn that the daughter is getting ready for her first day of school and that the mother wants it to be very perfect. “ I am wearing a checkered- like blue and green cotton dress, and scattered about these colors are bits of yellow and white and brown. My mother has uncharacteristically spent nearly an hour on my hair  that morning, planting and replaiting so that now my scalp tingles.” This shows that the mother wanted her to look good for her first day. She even let her wear some of the perfume her father gave to her mother, which was the last thing ever. “ Behind my ears, my mother, to stop my whining, has dabbed the stingiest bit of her gardenia perfume, the last present my father gave her before he disappeared in to memory.” As the story progresses the protagonist and her mother are walking to the school she is attending. But when they get there they run in to a little bit of trouble. “ At I street, between New Jersey Avenue and Third Street, we enter Seaton Elementary School, a timeworn, sad-faced building across from my mother’s church, Mt. Carmel Baptist. Just inside the front door, women out of the advertisement in
Ebony are greeting other parents and children.  The women first seems to be picturing where we live in  her head and says that we are at the wrong school, that we should be at Walker Jones.” The mother replies vigorously she wants her daughter to go there but Seaton does not serve beyond where they live. After arguing with the lady the mother took the protagonist and went to the Walker Jones school were the protagonist learned something new. “ I see,” my mother says, looking about the room. Then: “ Would you help me with this from? That is if you don’t mind.” The women asks my mother what she means . “ This form. Would you mind helpin’ me fill it out?” The women still seems not to understand. “ I can’t read it. I don’t know how to read or write, and I’m askin’ you to help me.” In the end the protagonist does not care that her mother does not know how to read or write she just loves her.

    At this point the conflict of the story was many things. From daughter vs mother, daughter vs school and so much more. But one of the most important conflicts were mother vs society. This was most important because the mother felt as though when she told the lady that she did not know how to read everyone was judging her and making fun of her because she could not read or write. She felt as though she did not belong in that society where everyone could read and write and she did not know how to at all. For example, “ I can’t read it. I don’t know how to read or write, an I’m askin’ you to help me.” My mother looks at me, then brand new to me. “ Would you help me, then?” The women says “ Why sure,” and suddenly she appears happier, so much more satisfied with everything. My mother is now diseased, according to the girl’s eyes, and until the moment her mother takes her and the form to the front of the auditorium.” This shows that the mother was very embarrassed that she did not know hot to read or write and that she she couldn’t look at anyone at that moment not even her own daughter. Another conflict was was the mother not telling her daughter that she didn’t have the education she got when she was little so she is pushing her to be more successful in life then she has. So over all it is mother vs daughter in this situation. “ My mother looks at me, then looks away. I know almost all of her looks, but this one is brand new to me.”  At this point the protagonist is seeing a side of her mother that she has never seen before a face expression that worries her a bit. She sees that the mother is ashamed of her self and is embarrassed to be there at that moment. But she doesn’t care that her mother didn’t get that great education she just turned out to be a really great mother.
      As the story ended I thought that the story was very interesting and unexpected because when you meet the main two characters you don’t expect the mother not to know how to read or write. An I thought it was a really good book because when you look at it the daughter didn’t really care that the mother did not know how to read or write. She just understood why the mother wanted her to go to such a good school and make something out of her self. the first day is about how a mothers and daughters relationship gets stronger overtime in just one day. I hope the daughter has the same courage one day that her mother had herself.