Mother’s Day if you ask anyone is a heartfelt day to express gratitude and loving expressions to our mothers however, could you imagine instead exchanging unpleasantries or good-byes? Amanda Coyne, author of the article “The Long Good-Bye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison,” shares her observation of incarcerated women, dealing with the difficult relationships between them and their children. Coyne describes not only the emotions these women feel when they are separated from their family’s, but also the thoughts and actions that provoke powerful emotions from their family. She takes a first person experience, observing and studying the difficult relationships present that day in the prison, and emphasizing with detail on a few inmates with the common problem her sister faces.After reading the article, I could not be more empathetic of the terrible circumstances these women face, their should be some kind of exception for the children they have left behind. In the process of reading Coyne’s article I have discovered a newfound appreciation for spending mothers day with my mother, nowhere near a federal prison camp. Ayala 2 The author shares a personal observation in the beginning of her article, that has to do with the women wearing a gift of a flower received by their children. “ You can spot the convict-moms here in the visiting room by the way they hold and touch their children and by the single flower that is perched in front of them” (Coyne75). She describes how the convicted women graciously accept the gifts from their children with no hesitation, how eager they are to compliment and highlight the gifts they receive, and how they sniff their children more th... ... middle of paper ... ...thers cannot see them. In relevance to the topic, my nephew’s father was incarcerated a year after he was born. My nephew would occasionally visit his father but never understood why he had to stay inside the prison. These visitations went on until he was six to seven years old, then, As a result, He gave up on his father and began to live his life completely separated from him, dropping all contact and even his existence. My nephew grew up with an angry heart that showed itself at moments, and I always was deeply upset knowing, his father could never do anything about the matter. No child should have to pay the heavy burden of abandonment. could Ayala 6 not imagine emotions even relatively near the topic, which lead me to be genuinely grateful and more appreciative to see and talk to my mother without consent to the law.
mind was focused on other things other than his father. He thought that if he
The picture this book paints would no doubt bother corrections professionals in prisons where prisoner-staff relationships and officer solidarity are more developed. In training, Conover is told that "the most important thing you can learn here is to communicate with inmates." And the Sing Sing staff who enjoy the most success and fulfillment i...
After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would like to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life.
Coyne uses paradigms within the text to describe the horrible situation in a maximum security federal prison. In “The Long Goodbye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison”, she describes maximum security as “Pit of fire…Pit of fire straight from Hell. Never seen anything like it. Like something out of an old movie about prisoners…Women die there.” (61). Using this paradigm draws the reader in and gives him or her a far fetched example of what maximum security federal prisons are like. Amanda Coyne backs up her claim with many examples of women in the federal prison who are there for sentences that seem frankly extreme and should not be so harsh. For example, in “The Long Goodbye” Mother’s Day in Federal Prison” we learn about a woman named Stephanie. The text states that Stephanie is a “twenty-four-year-old blonde with Dorothy Hamill hair
Although prisons have the primary objective of rehabilitation, prisoners will likely go through many other troubling emotions before reaching a point of reformation. Being ostracized from society, it is not uncommon to experience despair, depression, and hopelessness. Be that as it may, through reading various prison writings, it can be seen that inmates can find hope in the smallest things. As represented in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane”, the author, Etheridge Knight, as well as other black inmates look up to Hard Rock, an inmate who is all but dutiful in a world where white people are placed at the top of the totem pole. However, after Hard Rock goes through a lobotomy-esque procedure, the motif
Edna’s relationship with her two boys be characterized as close love and high excitement to see them. This is quoted as stated, “How glad she was to see the
together for the better of the shared children. The women had a say in how they would help
Her children greatly shaped her life; she gave birth to eight children and loved them deeply. In, "In Reference to My Children", she writes about neutering her children: “great was my pain when I you bread, great was my care when you I feed" (Bradstreet 55). She recorded her struggles about being a mother in troubling times. In her poem, "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" she records the last moments before giving birth: "and when thy loss shall be with gains, look to my little babes, my dear remains."(Bradstreet 21), she writes this thinking it would be her last thinking that childbirth would kill her, proving that her love for her children is greater than any other love she has, and that she would die for them. Her husband also is a theme in her poems, she writes about her bond with him and that "if ever two were one, then surely we" (Bradstreet 1) in "To My Dear Loving Husband". Bradstreet Is constantly writing about her husband and her love for him when he is far telling the reader that she is close with her husband and that she loves him deeply. Not only does her poems reflect her husband but also the roll that women had in the 1600's. In "A Love Letter to Her Husband" she tells him to "post with double speed, mark what I say, by all our loves contour him not to stray" (Bradstreet 39). One of her most prominent themes would be her devotion to her religion and God. She
“The trial was brought to a speedy conclusion. Not only did Judge Evans find the twelve guilty, fine them $100 each, and committed them to jail, but five people in the courtroom who had served as witnesses for the defense arrested. […] The police were then instructed to transfer the seventeen prisoners that night to the county jail”(30).
...promising dreams, relationships often fall apart under strain from unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, imprisonment, conflict and betrayal. Finally, we get to the heart of what marriage means to these mothers and why they say that successfully raising children is the most important job they will ever have. Almost all of the women said things like “It’s only because my children that I am where I am today.”
In the article, “A Mother’s Day Kiss-Off,” Leslie Bennetts expresses her malcontentedness with corporate culture’s hostility toward mothers and care taking needs (42). Bennetts uses facts, figures, and even a testimony to shed light on the average mother’s modern dilemma. She attempts to show the unjust treatment of mothers by several different outside forces. In the article, “The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was.,” Hope Edelman vents her frustration at the mother’s inability to deny the role of the prominent parent (51). She uses her own personal experience to show just how ingrained societal standards are into the public. Her article goes through her own descension into the average wife, sacrificing her own career
Knowing and understanding the author’s purpose, we see where he is coming from and what his “point of view” is. We see that the author is someone that does not agree with the activities that occur in the native prison. It makes the author feel uncomfortable with the establishment and its procedures.
her husband, but in this letter she seems to be very distressed and worried. She
mother had to go out and leave him with a friend or relative. In fact,
Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. (PP, 188)