Compare And Contrast Sticky Fingers And White Lies By Erin Smith

Sticky Fingers and White Lies in My Eyes
The short, “White Lies”, written by Erin Murphy has its likeness to “Sticky Fingers” by Patti Smith; portraying a young girl going through a life molding experience. They only differ because of situation and how they are handled. In “White Lies”, you see a mother that doesn’t address her daughter’s issue and works around it to decrease the severity of the problem. In “Sticky fingers” Smith writes of a girl who struggles but deals with her situation. Both essays leave the audience with the choice of how to not only judge the little girls’ decisions but also a look at how their mother’s nurturing styles helped in the development of the girls’ morals. I find that by giving the audience a look at the situations

in the perspective of children they simplified right and wrong making it easier to assess the situation. With that said, Smith’s Patricia character is more agreeable. She knows there’s a fault in her behavior and knows that had her mother been in her shoes she wouldn’t agree with her choice of action.
It would be best to look, first, at the difference in how their interactions are described.

“When I was ten years old, I lived with my family in a small ranch house in rural South Jersey” (Smith 258). Patricia speaks of her situation with a maturity but in her childlike nature she does not understand all that well how money is handled. Smith acknowledges that by including “I did not understand my mother’s mounting anxiety” (258). Despite that, there is sense that she knows her mom cannot buy her everything she wants. Even knowing this, she still feels she can still ask her mother for things rather than just stealing them first. Though she ultimately steals in the end, it is easy to see that it is not in her nature to do such

things.
When she struggles in going home after making a promise to the store security, who asks her about church the situation becomes clear to the reader. They think of how much ethical training she must go through. She not only learns right and wrong at home but also in her community which is not afraid to talk about religion. Mostly though, it is the pressure of her mother’s “sentencing that always seemed to outweigh the crime” (Smith 259) that made her sick and deters her from acting out regularly. This shows that in the end, her mother’s word is the most impactful.
Moving onto “White Lies”, the same cannot be said about Connie’s situation. Her mother cares for her daughter. This much is revealed when Murphy includes that “Her mother was filling a cardboard box. And Connie, bathed in unflinching fluorescence, was curved over her notebook making small, careful check marks” (1). No, the difference lies in how her community and her mother turns the blind eye. Whether it’s the teacher reading her magazine or her mother ignoring the things the children have done and buying them candy. In this short there’s a lacking in a sense of accepting community. Religion brought Patricia’s together, whereas likeness in feature and name brought this one together. Even Arpi, who doesn’t have albinism or any ailment, is made to feel ousted because of her name and her heritage. When Murphy is quick to compare her differences to Connie’s, the nature of their school’s dynamic is shown. Whoever is most different, is the subject of their insults or rejection.
We like to think we would do the right thing but if given the chance we will not take the road less traveled and take the beaten path because it is easier to handle. Whether more effective or just less harmful then doing the right thing, understandably it is easier. That’s how I look at Connie’s mother who chose to turn the other cheek rather than move her daughter again and face a new charge of kids calling her daughter “Casper, Chalk Face, Q-Tip” (1). All that said, I would still rather take the tongue lashing from my mom than watch her pay for candy for unsavory kids who don’t think carefully of others. At that point, the audience can excuse her for being tired but when the reader compares her to Patricia’s mother from “Sticky Finger” who’s tired of poverty and not being able to give her kids what she wants, there’s a telling difference.
It is easy to see that though Patricia’s mother still gives her the encyclopedia she recognized a maturity in the girl’s behavior which she learned from her surroundings.

While in comparison the audience sees Connie, who doesn’t have a good surrounding in the first place. From what she learns, she accepts her situation and even lets the people who tormented her, rather than welcomed her, into her life. The greatest disconnect with this way of thinking, is that once she’s older as she sees that someone doesn’t agree with her she will do whatever it takes to fit into whatever they think is right. When she might be right it will not matter because the people plucking at her are always right. Even in the essay there is nothing wrong with Connie except that she does not fit the “something was either perfect or not” (Murphy 1) philosophy that the so “dedicated” teacher instilled in the

children.
For example, when I was a child my elementary school was really close to my house; so I participated in an after school program. I would walk home but on occasion my mother would tell me that she would pick me up. My mother is someone who takes care of everything before she takes care of one thing, something I understood to take account for her lateness. Though I knew she had a reasonable explanation, as a child I wanted to get home as fast as I could to watch whatever cartoon was on after school- like the kids whose parents came on time. So I would walk home and she would be upset but thankful that I was okay.
On one particular day, it rained on and off, during the morning bus ride to school. When we had Physical Education, forcing us to stay inside, and even during the after school program. Once the program came to end I realized, as I feared my mom was late. As I watched the other kids pile into their respective cars, I felt the pity-filled eyes of the teachers bore into my back; again I was one of the kids last to be picked up. I could feel the tears welling, but as quickly as they dropped my mom pulled up in her loud van that could be heard from the street over. I quickly wiped my tears and hopped into her van because as much as she is late she at least makes it all the time.
For the most part if I were a parent, I would hope I could give a good enough example like my mom. For however much she is late I still trust in her to deliver on her promises. From those experiences I learned to trust in people and see the good in people. So when people tried to bully me on my appearance, they couldn’t really. It only hurt for a second before I kept it moving because just as much as it hurt me that they said mean things, something was bothering them that they felt they should say it. I did not feel helpless because of bullies, I felt better about myself because I knew it did not affect me like they wanted it to.
Altogether, the examples in the story and my own story drives my point that relationships make a person. Though both mothers had their daughters’ intention in mind only one, no matter how embarrassed, refused their daughter. From what I’ve gathered from the essays Patricia will learn from her mistake and have help from those around her. Connie will try to find a way to fix her problems because she has been taught to have a wavering resolve and to conform to others. What the mothers imparted on their children is what will show through the most in the end.