Last Name 1

Student Name

Mrs. Taylor

ENG 1113

12 April 2016

Similarities and Differences

As we journey through our life, we may find it necessary to compare our lives to those of ones older than us, such as a parent. “All my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands” (Hogan). There may be many similarities among the two, but there may also be several differences. A parent and child may have shared similar interests in activities and hobbies, or they may have had different decisions that impacted their life severely, or just how their parents raised them so they could have a better life.

My mother grew up in Texas. She started working at the age of sixteen so she could have her own spending money. She worked at a department store called TGY, and moved up to assistant manager before moving to Corinth, Mississippi. She would go to the mall to hang out with her friends or drive along the main drag in her hometown of Brownwood. “I remember when we would ride the drag for hours, not for any specific reason, just because that felt like home when all of us were together” (Bryan). My grandmother made my mom be home by eleven p.m., except on nights when she was working. If she ever got in trouble or got home late, my grandmother made her go out into the yard to one of the old thorn bushes and pick off a switch. My grandmother would then whip her with it. The way she stayed in touch with her friends either by her home phone or by seeing them at school. She got her first vehicle was a 1967 Mustang, and she first got her license when she was twenty-four years old. As she got older, she tried her best to further herself so she could make a better life for her family and be a better parent than hers were (Bryan).

As both my mother and I grew up, we decided we wanted to make the best choices in our lives, not only for our well-being, but for those of our current and future families. While I came from a modest home, my parents have always had financial issues. I wanted to educate myself so I could get could a good job to help them with their debts and to support my family in the future. My mom grew up in a home with an abusive father and an extremely passive mother. After seeing what he kept her away from, she promised herself that she would never let her children be treated that way by anyone.

I started working at sixteen, at a restaurant cleaning tables, just so I could have my own money and take a burden off of my parents, just as my mother did when she got her first job. I have since worked my way up to seating patrons on our busiest nights. I go to the movies and to the park to hang out and have fun with my friends. Just like my mother’s curfew, my parents make me be home by eleven p.m. as long as I wasn’t working. If I ever got in trouble or broke curfew, my punishment isn’t typically severe. I usually get grounded for the rest of the weekend, or I have my cell phone taken away for a few days. I am always in touch with my friends, whether I’m talking to them through a phone call, on the internet, or by text message. In contrast to my mom, I got my license when I was sixteen and my first car was a Silverado.  Like my mother, through high school I tried my best to make the decisions that would help me most in life, so I can be as good for my family as mine has been for me.

Just looking at our lives from a glance, my mother and I may seem very different. When you start to look deeper, though, you start to realize we have so many things in common. We both had a job at the age of sixteen, we each had curfews of eleven p.m., and we both decided that we wanted to make the best decisions that would help us go farther in life. Now, there are some differences, but nothing is exactly the same. I got my license at age sixteen, and she got hers at twenty-four. So while we may come from different walks of life, and have some differences, my mother and I are actually very similar based on the details of our lives.

Works Cited

Bryan, Jane. Personal Interview. 12 October 2015.

Hogan, Linda. Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996. Print.