My Daughter My Mother Analysis

There were two words mentioned, in My Daughter the Racist, that occurred significantly more times than any others: daughter and mother. Helen Oyeyemi wrote these words seventy- eight times, which gave support to a theme of the short story. The theme is the strength of relationships between daughters and mothers, which is established through Oyeyemi’s characters and their attributes. Oyeyemi wrote her story from the first-person point of view. This meant that the mother was the protagonist in the short story. She was also the center-of-attention and the main character. She was not specifically introduced since there was no need for her to be. Also, she was one of the static characters. The mother was the protagonist and the main character …show more content…
She loved her husband, and when he died, she showed her inability to be independent. She said, “I belong with my husband’s mother until someone else claims me” (Oyeyemi 76). She ought to be “claimed” by someone. She could not function on her own. The mother was dependent on others to survive.
Fear was another characteristic the mother had throughout the short story. She wanted to love and have a life with a man again, but she was afraid. She said that Bilal, “... could give my mother, daughter, and I everything we might reasonably expect from this life” (Oyeyemi 80). She could have said ‘yes’, at least, one of the three times, and would have been living a prosperous life, but she did not. The mother was afraid and scared to pursue a life without her late …show more content…
She is not a man, and there is no head of the household, she partially took over the role. Father figures tend to be stricter. This was indirectly stated through the dialogue. After the daughter and the mother attacked the soldiers, the mother said, “My mother didn’t like what happened” (Oyeyemi 83). The grandmother believed that just because other people approve of a decision, it is not necessarily the right one. The grandmother was similar to a father, being that she was stricter on the family, and did not approve of everything they did.
The daughter and the mother had an excellent relationship throughout My Daughter the Racist. The mother did not appove of the soldiers, but she was too afraid and cautious to stand up for herself. Her daughter helped her find the courage to do so, when she threw the rocks. Together they were, “...mother and daughter, causing problems for the soldiers together” (Oyeyemi 82). The daughter gave the mother strength which, in turn, gave more support to their relationship