The Gift of Maggi
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The story “Tuesday Siesta” by author Gabriel Garcia, follows a mother and daughter, who travel to a secluded town, in order to pay respect to the grave of the mothers son who was killed. While in this remote town the locals take notice of the mother, and seem to judge her for the way her son was raised.
The mother was described as wearing “severe and poor mourning clothes”, while “she bore the conscientious serenity of someone accustomed to poverty”. The place where the mother and her family came from, there were plenty of bananas, and when they arrived at their destination in the new town, there were plenty of almonds, so it seems as if the author was trying to distinguish class, amongst the two.
Before the train arrived at their final destination, the mother instructed her daughter not to cry or cause a scene. It seemed as if the mother had a feeling that the towns folk would be watching, and she didnt want to show them any sign of weakness from them both, as she was proud of her son and she was not ashamed of his past.
The mothers plan once arriving in the town was to have a proper burial for her son and pay respects to him. She is the type of mother who just wants the best for her kids, and doesnt care what anyone else thinks of her, or her children.
After telling the priest who her son was, the priest scrutinized the mother and asked her why she didnt get her son on the right track. The mother just responded that “he was a good man” which showed how proud she was of him, and saying all of this without shedding a tear.
The town found out who she was and it seemed as if they viewed her as a poor, uncaring mother who raised her child into a thief, which ultimately ended in his death.
I find that there is too much judgment in the world without knowing the facts first, and that is how I feel about this story. It is great to see how proud the mother is of her son without losing her integrity as a mother. In short I think this story is a great description about a mother and her true love for her son, who she believed was a great man, while others disagreed.