No pain no gain

No Pain, No Gain Families everywhere deal with great challenges. With each obstacle they face generally the outcome will make each individual a little bit stronger. With these experiences our perspective in life changes and we become more knowledgeable. “ Girl” and “ Tiger Mending” are two stories that I believe reflect this in two very different ways. Jamaica Kincaid’s “ Girl” is a story about reflection. It is about a girl reflecting back upon the past. Maybe she just lost her mother or maybe she is grown and finally realizes why her mother told her all of these things. At the time, I’m sure she thought her mother was always on her and barking orders at her. She grew up in a different era. Times were different obviously then based on the way they washed their clothes. “ Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap, ” and “ soak your little clothes right after you take them off. ” All of the things the mother said were to mold her daughter into a good strong woman. The reference the mother makes to the daughter on not becoming a slut is kind of odd and disturbing. “ On Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming, ” and “ this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming. ” This maybe the mother’s way of reverse psychology. By putting these thoughts and references in the girl’s head, she will think twice about things she does. The girl will not want to give the wrong impression and will strive to rise above her mother’s expectations. This story refers to growth and even though it seems to be somewhat harsh, the mother is really striving for a smart productive daughter. A daughter she is proud to have raised and one who will also set a good example for her own children. Aimee Bender’s “ Tiger Mending” is a story about change and growth. This story is about two sisters who have lost their parents and lean on one another to get by in life. The narrator is one of the sisters, I’m not sure which is older, I’ll refer to her as sister one. The sister the narrator is talking about I’ll refer to as sister two. Sister one seems to be the one sitting on the bench, always watching others swayed by sister two. Sister one refers to sister two as an “ overachiever. ” The story begins with, “ My sister got the job. She’s the overachiever, and she went to med school for two years before she decided she wanted to become a gifted seamstress. ” I don’t believe that sister one is necessarily jealous of sister two. She just knows that they are both different, but together they in a way equal each other out. I like the reference to sister one becoming sister two’s “ rock” parse when they fly. Sister two has a fear of airplanes, so she needs sister one to help her focus on something else during the flight to keep her calm. “ I become her ripped hemline. ” I love this simile used since sister two really does become so involved with her sewing. It is interesting how in the moment sister two remains. When presented with the job offer to go to Asia, she is still more involved with sewing her dress. Her mind is so focused on the now rather than the details of the future trip. It seems sister one is even more excited about the trip, since she gets to quit her job. “ That somehow I’d get a magical phone call telling me to quit my job because I was going on an exciting vacation. ” I wish this story would have emphasized a little bit more about the girls’ parents. The story just vaguely says that the parents died at the hands of surgeons. This would be odd to have both parents die together at the same time like that, unless maybe it was a car crash and their injuries were too extensive for the surgeons to repair. Anyways, I guess they are not a huge inflection of the point of this story. The main focus and point I believe is sister one realizing that sister two will be ok without her and vice versa. They have leaned on each other most of their lives. Sister one is shocked that sister two is actually wondering what is happening to these tigers, since it is so not like her to think beyond the now. “ It was unlike my sister, to need the cause. She was fine, usually, with just how things were. ” Sister one becomes worried about sister two and goes out to find out what is actually happening to the tigers. When sister one realizes that the tigers are causing the pain on themselves, she realizes she is doing the same with her sister. That she is settling to stay in the shadow of her sister. She realizes that her sister needs to stay and mend the tigers and she needs to move on and live her own life. In comparison, these two stories both convey the message of growth. I would say mostly mental growth. The mother in “ girl” wants her daughter to learn the basics of life and hopefully take the tools she is given her to choose the right path in her own life. While in “ tiger mending” sister one realizes she is not always going to be strongly needed by sister two. That it is okay for them to have separate lives and strengthen themselves individually. Sister one really grows in this story, realizing she can have more in her own life, and not sit secondhand to her sister. In both stories, the characters go through pain and growth to determine the true emphasis of what they were meant to learn from each challenge of their lives. Both of these stories are very different. “ Girl” is a about a mother and her daughter, while “ Mending Tigers” is a tale of two sisters. The authors of these stories came from two very different time eras. The authors also have a different style of writing to portray what they were thinking, and how they aimed to provide their point and themes of their stories. Jamaica Kincaid’s style of writing was not really even a story. It seemed to be more or less a string of lessons, and sayings given to a daughter, all for her benefit, from her mother. Based on the story, it sets you back into the early to mid-1900 era. While Aimee Benders writing method was much more of a modern day storyline. “ Girl” was a story about how things are how one is expected to behave. While “ Tiger Mending” is more about why things are the way they are. The girls weren’t afraid to seek out life and explore it. Aimee’s story really left you sort of hanging at the end. You really have to think about it and assess what she wanted people to get through reading this story. Her story leaves you feeling mixed and confused. It really pushed me to think about her intentions, while I strangely related a little easier to the writing by Jamaica. I think different people will interpret different meanings from these stories. That is the part of what makes both of these stories each different and unique in their own way.