Mother and Family Essay

Submitted By Landon1217
Words: 1369
Pages: 6

Work The definition of work is to apply effort. In order to have anything work in our lives we have to apply ourselves, and if we love what we are working for then we don't mind applying ourselves. In the story “My Mother Never Worked” the narrator is surprised to hear that her mother is not entitled to social security, because she never actually had a paying job. However, just because she didn't have a paying job doesn't necessarily mean that she didn't work at all. When you have a family, a marriage to uphold, and mouths to feed you are putting a huge amount of work into all of those things. Getting married is a huge step in life, and it takes a lot to commit yourself to a person for the remainder of your lives. Now, you obviously are going to be a little afraid to commit yourself to a person. In the story the narrator has those feelings, but works through them. “It's hard for me to decide when to have my wedding day – that's all I’ve thought about these last two days. I have told you dozens of times that I won't be afraid of married life, but when it comes down to setting the date then picturing myself a married women with half a dozen or more kids to look after, it just makes me sick. . . . I am weeping right now – I hope that some day I can look back and say how foolish I was to dread it all.” Once you make that big jump, the feeling of panic leaves you and you feel better about it. Working to be with the one you love, if you truly do love them, you are willing to do anything and everything to keep them by your side. This means being loyal, faithful, and giving them all that you have. Then comes the first member of the family that makes it a little bit harder to maintain the life you just got adjusted to. Having kids means working even harder to put food on the table. In the story the narrator talks about how hard both of her parents worked. Her father was working, and being paid, for several people, however, her mother had to learn how “to set hens and raise chickens, feed pigs, milk cows, plant and harvest a garden, and can every fruit and vegetable she could scrounge”. So, her mother had to learn to do all of this WORK at home and in her eyes that is exactly what her mother did: Work hard to feed and provide for her family. She did as much and learned as much as possible to take care of her kids. In the narrators eyes that qualified as work, despite what the Social Security company thought. As your family keeps growing, and you are getting older, the amount of effort you have to put into your life as a parent becomes even more demanding. The more children you have the more mouth you have to feed and put through school. This is yet another type of work that you see in the story. It talks about how many different things, such as, finding new ways to cook rabbit, her mother had to go through to feed her family. She took care of many inside and outside jobs, for example, fixing sinks, making rugs, and sewing clothes for her family. Work does not mean you have to be getting paid for what you are doing. If you are doing what you have to for your family and do not mind having to get your hands dirty, then that is enough payment. Seeing your family taken care of and happy no mater how you had to make it happen. The narrators mother had her own large garden that she tended to on her own, she tended to cattle, and still had enough to do in the house making rugs, and such. And she was still able to get dinner on the table at supper time. Her father, also, worked hard to provide for his family. The story states that her father “hunted rabbits daily” to provide dinner, and worked not only on his own fields, but two others that were owned by two separate farmers. Another way to work is together. You cannot always do what is necessary on your own. To hold up a marriage, TWO people have to be putting for the effort and the same amount of push and pull. To hold a family together requires the work and effort of all of