Response to “Like Daughter”
“I went to my kitchen sink, in the direct path of the biting breeze from my half-open window, and I was shaking. My mind had frozen shut, sealing my thoughts out of reach. I turned on the faucet and listened to the water pummel my aluminum basin, and then I captured some of the lukewarm stream in my palms to splash my face. As the water dripped from my chin, I cupped my hands again and drank, and I could taste the traces of salty perspiration I’d rubbed from my skin, tasting myself. My anger and sadness were tugging on my stomach. I stood at that window and cursed as if what I was feeling had a shape and was standing in the room with me”. (Due, 2014)
Response to “Like Daughter”
The story “Like Daughter” is a fiction piece done by Tananarive Due that focuses on the motivation and consequences that come with human cloning. The story shows the benefits of having a friend as Paige is the BFF of Denies and the godmother of Neecy, the daughter to Denise, and she is the one person that Denise shares her secrets and troubles. The story also shows how child abuse affects a person’s life as Denise cloned herself so that she can bring up her daughter in the manner that her parents did not (Due, 2014). Once her husband leaves her, it hurts her and breaks her down as she re-encounters her childhood experience.
I have selected the scene where after the narrator receives the disturbing call from her friend Denise as it shows the state that the devastating state of the narrator after she had the sad news of the husband of her friend living. Due to the experience, they have had together since their childhood Paige knows that the situation that her friend is going through might be hurtful. In the selected passage, Paige feels angry as she feels like she has not been spending enough time with Denise and her daughter, which makes her sad and angry (Due, 2014). Why this particular scene resonates with me is because I don’t like my friends had problems, and it hurts me more when I know I have abandoned them for long.
The fact that Paige tries to convince herself that she did not have enough time as she is a busy lady is not enough to make her feel good. This scene stands out in the story as the characterization of Paige is done so well that it brings out the vivid picture of her emotions and how she was feeling at that particular time. The passage shows how guilty Paige was for abandoning her friend, and at the same time, she was angry at Denise’s husband for living them as she knew what that would do to her emotionally. This particular passage shows that Paige was a good friend, and that is why she got so emotional when she heard that her friend was undergoing a lot of problems in her life.