Analysis Of Erdrich's The Years Or My Birth

Erdrich’s “The Years or my Birth” captivated from the first sentence. A number of emotions flicked through me by just reading the first paragraph. At the very beginning I was confused when Erdrich stated, “… and I slid out half dead” (pg.1). I assumed from that sentence and when the nurse it was too late that the fetus was dead. However, it goes on to talk about the fetus living with another family. I did not understand why the first and second page was so hard to comprehend. After that initial misleading phrasing I was really engrossed in the story.
Most mothers when they give birth to a child or in this case children they are ecstatic and cannot wait to hold the little bundles of joy. However, this is not the case so it really peaked my interest. I wanted to see another emotion to giving birth besides joy. I knew that many mothers rejected their children for a number of reasons, but actually reading about it just made the reality of abandonment ten times more real. The mother did not give any reason as to why she accepted the first child and not the second. Yet, one could assume that the task to care for two children, one of which has a disability was daunting. Still, you cannot just throw your baby away. So, I was very happy …show more content…
I think Erdich decided to make his short story this way because life is not as golden as everyone seems to make it to be. Many people choose to be ignorant and ignore all the depression and heartache in the world. However, this short story really embraces it. Tuffy had every reason to fail, and her brother had everyone reason not to. Yet, at the end of the story she is the one standing tall and he the broken lonely one. What I learned is that no matter what life throws at you, you can’t let it get in your way. Tuffy’s mother left her because she thought Tuffy was going to be stupid, but she worked hard and she proved all her doubters