Monologue Of A Homeless Person

I woke up this morning to raindrops hitting me in the forehead. The wood on the ceiling

had rotted and water was leaking through. When we first moved to Virginia, my father refused

to hire a carpenter so he did all the woodwork by himself. I showed him where the water was

leaking and he set one of the milk buckets underneath it to catch the water until he was able to

fix it.

My father is a busy man and he always has a lot on his plate. Whether he’s bringing in the

money for our family, managing his crops, working with his slaves, or hunting so our family has

food. He loves to work and he never slows down. He even works with the slaves rather than

watching them work. He believes that the more hands that are helping, the faster

It is just my father, my mother, myself, my brother

John, and my baby brother Harry. I am the oldest of the three so if anything were to

happen to my father, I would become the man of the house. We are an average family. We are

not filthy rich and we are not dirt poor. We are middle class and we do just enough to get by. I

would say we are pretty lucky because there are families here that have it way worse.

The population here has been growing rapidly. There are now about 500,000 people

here and the crop industry is growing as well. Tobacco is the main money maker here and

people cannot seem to get enough of it. Certain farmers grow strictly tobacco, but there are

others who grow things like corn, carrots, and grapes. Farmers also have animals that are used

for work and for food. They are basic farm animals such as horses, sheep, cows, chickens, and

pigs.

My father’s farm consists of mostly tobacco and corn. He has cows, horses, sheep, and pigs

that run around his farm as well. The cows supply us with milk and butter. The horses help

bring in loads of tobacco and corn back to the barn. The pigs are mostly for food, but their

I am not

sure if I am capable or experienced enough for that. He has taken me to his farm a couple times

to work and to also observe. I am only fourteen years old though and I am not very strong yet

so he doesn’t like me to be out in the fields working a lot. He knows my mother has had a hard

time ever since the passing of Martha, so he likes me to stay home with her and help out in

any way I can. Plus, since he is not home often, he likes me to watch over and influence my

younger brothers in a positive way. My father did smack me in front of them one time though

when he caught me smoking tobacco with my friend William. That was not a pleasant

experience and I will not do that ever again. I felt like I let him down and I never want to feel

like that again.

My father is my biggest role model and always will be. He has taught me everything I know.

We did not have enough money to send me to a school so I could get educated and my father

believed he could teach me himself. My father is very intelligent and innovative. He taught me

how to read, how to write, how to speak properly, and he also taught me basic math skills.