{"id":2003,"date":"2020-04-23T04:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T04:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2020-04-23T04:05:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T04:05:26","slug":"mackenzies-mmp-poetry-the-motivations-of-a-caregiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/uncategorized\/mackenzies-mmp-poetry-the-motivations-of-a-caregiver\/","title":{"rendered":"Mackenzie’s MMP. Poetry: The Motivations of a Caregiver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mary Lennox\u2019s Mother:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disappointment\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can she be mine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t see myself in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My beauty, my spirit, my status, it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

becomes lost in her dull expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t supposed to be like this\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for mother and her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s sad, she\u2019s difficult, she\u2019s ill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and I can\u2019t hide my disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t meant for a life like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was expecting a life of ease.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She requires so much attention,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I just don\u2019t have the patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll find somone capable, of course,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to watch her as she grows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019ll have eveything a child could want\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll be just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had you and you had me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we had our futures set.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was a dream, just a fantasy,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure where you fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love you I really do,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we\u2019ve been partners this whole time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I know what\u2019s best for you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and you don\u2019t know where to draw the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It couldn\u2019t be like this forever,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

maybe it\u2019s better me than them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close your eyes and look ahead,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and I\u2019ll relieve you from this pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eva Peace:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my shadow of a son,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time for you to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you can\u2019t live like a man,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then you\u2019ll die like one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is my last act of love.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You wouldn\u2019t leave and\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you wouldn\u2019t grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My womb has no more space,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so, this is where I say goodbye.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll hold you and I\u2019ll rock you here,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll let you be my child.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I\u2019ll keep my tears away,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019ll do what must be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Radley:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-preservation\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community whispers\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

outside our door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please just stay inside<\/p>\n\n\n\n

where you can\u2019t cause us more pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanne Madsen:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concern\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who cares for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who makes sure your safe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who listens to your worries?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who asks what you want?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will be your advocate,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when you can\u2019t speak for yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who knows what makes you happy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who tells you that it\u2019s okay to be you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricky Hernandez:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sympathy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looks at me with those sad eyes as I hold him in this room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a driver, now in charge of discipline.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to show them kindness, respect, consistency.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These kids don\u2019t see that often,\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my job is to to show up when I get the call,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0to constrain and remove.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, probably soon, I\u2019ll leave this place,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but I find myself hesitant.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t think it would be so hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t expect to love them so much\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimmie Kenrick:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acceptance<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just can just call me Jimmie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to call me mom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you don\u2019t have to call me anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have our own rhythm,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we have a special click,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we have an understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to call me mom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you don\u2019t have to call me anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can just call me Jimmie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have created poems based on the point of view of various characters from novels we have read throughout the semester. These are characters that have found themselves in some sort of caregiver position. These characters include Eva Peace from Toni Morrison\u2019s\u00a0Sula,\u00a0<\/em>Ricky Hernandez, Jimmie Kenrick and Joanne Madsen from Susan Nussbaum\u2019s\u00a0Good Kings, Bad Kings,\u00a0<\/em>Mr. Radley in Harper Lee\u2019s\u00a0To Kill a Mockingbird,\u00a0<\/em>Mary Lennox\u2019s mother in Frances Hodgson Burnett\u2019s\u00a0The Secret Garden,\u00a0<\/em>and George from John Steinbeck\u2019s\u00a0Of Mice and Men.\u00a0<\/em>These characters, whether parents, paid professionals, or friends, are put into the role of having to take care of someone with a perceived disability. All of these characters were chosen to represent a range of different types of caregivers and how successful they are in fulfilling their role. The first-person narratives allow for the exploration of the motivations behind these characters\u2019 actions and the corresponding pieces reflect the character\u2019s motivating emotion. Eva Peace was overwhelmed as her role of a mother of a child with a mental disability. Her son did not fit the expectations she had for him and that ultimately led her to orchestrate his death. This could be comapred to George killing Lennie in the end of\u00a0Of Mice and Men.\u00a0<\/em>George was a friend but also a protector to Lennie. Throughout the novel they say they look out for each other, but it is never truly an equal partnership. George often acts according to what he feels is best for Lennie, but perhaps sometimes his actions are for selfish reasons. This raises the question of whether or not his killing of Lennie was really to protect his friend or to relieve himself from the stress of a caregiver position. Either way, he makes the decisions about what happens in Lennie\u2019s life. Other caregivers, such as Mr. Radley and Mary Lennox\u2019s mother, will keep their children at a distance. Maybe they can never accept their child\u2019s differences or maybe they are unwilling to make the necessary adjustments to their own lifestyles in order to care for their children, either keeping them locked away in the house, as Mr. Radley does, or giving the responsibility to a paid worker, as Mary Lennox\u2019s mother does.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are positive examples of caregivers, too. Joanne Madsen, Ricky Hernandez, and Jimmie Kendrick from\u00a0Good Kings, Bad Kings\u00a0<\/em>all behave more appropriately in their interactions with those they care for. Joanne, while not specifically a paid caregiver in the nursing home, offers the children guidence in accepting their identities as people with disabilities. She also looks after the best interest of all of the residence of the home. She treats the children as individuals and gives them room to grow and express themselves. Ricky, while he struggles with the ethics of his job, also tries to treat the children as individuals. He cares for them on a more emotional and personal level than many of the other paid professionals in the home. Lastly, Jimmie\u2019s personal connection with Yessenia Lopez influences her decision to become her foster parent. All of these positive representations are similar in the way that they allow the other person to be an individual, not defined solely by disability. In cases where caregivers are unsucccessful in their roles, it is because they cannot accept the individual, whether that takes the form of making decisions about what happens to that person or releasing themselves from the caregiver role altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word count: 564<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Lennox\u2019s Mother: Disappointment\u00a0 How can she be mine? I don\u2019t see myself in her eyes. My beauty, my spirit, my status, it becomes lost in her dull expression. It wasn\u2019t supposed to be like this\u00a0 for mother and her daughter. She\u2019s sad, she\u2019s difficult, she\u2019s ill, and I can\u2019t hide my disappointment. I wasn\u2019t … Continue reading “Mackenzie’s MMP. Poetry: The Motivations of a Caregiver”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[167,82,106,188,63,60,186,105,113,187,42,114],"class_list":["post-2003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-good-kings-bad-kings","tag-harper-lee","tag-john-steinbeck","tag-mackenzie-king","tag-major-paper-project","tag-major-project","tag-mmp","tag-of-mice-and-men","tag-sula","tag-susan-nussbaum","tag-to-kill-a-mockingbird","tag-toni-morrison"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-wj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2004,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions\/2004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}