Like One of the Family Book Review Alice Childress

Summary:
Originally published as a series in African-American papers in the 1950s this serial of monologue-style short stories are all in the voice of Mildred–a daytime maid for white families in New York Metropolis.  The monologues are all addressed to her best friend and downstairs neighbor, Marge, who is too a maid.  The stories range from encounters with southern relatives of moderately minded employers to picnics threatened by the Ku Klux Klan to more everyday occurrences such equally a dance that went bad and missing your beau.  Mildred's spitfire personality comes through clearly throughout each entry.

Review:
With completion of this book, Amy and I are officially halfway through our The Existent Help Reading Project!  This book is our first piece of fiction to straight foray into the time era and relationships depicted in The Help, whereas the balance have shown the slave culture and racial issues leading up to that time period.  I'g glad we got the historical context from our previous reads before tackling this one written during the Civil Rights era by an author who periodically worked equally a maid herself.

The introduction by Trudier Harris is not to exist missed.  She provides excellent biographical details of Alice Childress, who was non only a black writer of fiction, but likewise wrote and performed in plays.  I am very glad I took the fourth dimension to read the introduction and go some context to the author.  Harris points out that in existent life some of the things the character Mildred says to her employers would at the very least have gotten her fired, and then to a certain extent the situations are a flake of fantasy relief for black domestic workers.  Mildred says what they wish they could say.  Since we know Childress was a domestic worker herself, this certainly makes sense.  I would adventure a guess that at to the lowest degree a few of the stories were real life situations that happened to her reworked then she got to actually say her listen without risking her livelihood.  I love the concept of this for the footing of a series of short stories.

More than than any other piece of work we've read, Like One of the Family demonstrates the complexities of living in a forcibly segregated society.  Mildred on the 1 manus works in close contact with white people and subway signs encourage everyone in New York City to respect everyone else, and nevertheless her personal life is segregated.  Mildred oftentimes points out how she can come up into someone else's abode to piece of work, but information technology wouldn't be acceptable in club for that person to visit her as a friend or vice versa.

Another result that Childress demonstrates with skill is how a segregated, racist society causes both black and white people to regard each other with undue suspicion.  In 1 story Mildred'southward employer asks her if it's also hot for a dress Mildred already ironed for her and ponders another one.  Mildred assumes that if she agrees with her employer that information technology'south likewise hot for the first dress, she'll have to stay tardily to iron.  Her employer instead of getting angry realizes that Mildred has been mistreated this fashion before and takes it upon herself to reassure Mildred that she herself is perfectly capable of ironing her own dresses and will not keep Mildred longer than their agreed upon quitting time.  Of course, Mildred sometimes is the one who must hold her temper and at-home irrational fears.  In one peculiarly moving department she encounters a white maid in their respective employers' shared washroom.  The woman is afraid to bear upon Mildred, and it takes Mildred holding her temper and carefully explaining that they are more than like than different earlier the woman realizes how much more than she has in common with Mildred than with her white employer.  These types of scenes show that the Civil Rights move required bravery in close, one-on-one settings in addition to the more than obvious street demonstrations and sit-ins.

Of course the stories also highlight the active attempts at exploitation domestics often encountered.  Mildred herself won't put upwardly for it, only Childress manages to also make it axiomatic that some people might have to simply to get past.  An example of this sort of exploitation is the woman who upon interviewing Mildred informs her that she will pay her the 2d and fourth calendar week of every month for 2 weeks, regardless of whether that month had five weeks in it or not.  What hits home reading these serials all at once that maybe wouldn't otherwise is how frequent such a slight was in a domestic's life during this time period.  Mildred does not merely have i story like this.  She has many.

Of class sometimes reading Mildred's life all at once instead of periodically every bit it was intended was a flake desensitizing.  Although Mildred had every correct to be upset in each situation related, I found myself noticing more and more that Mildred was but a character for Childress to espouse her views upon the earth with.  I speedily checked myself from getting bewitched by that, though.  Of course Childress had every right to be upset and did not originally intend this to be a book of Mildred's life.  Mildred was a vehicle through which to discuss electric current issues highly relevant to the readers of the paper.  Information technology is of import in reading historic work to e'er continue context in listen.

Taking the stories as a whole, I believe they evidence what must have been one of the prime frustrations for those who cared nigh Civil Rights during that era, whether black or white.  Mildred puts it perfectly:

I'm not upset almost what anybody said or did but I'm hoppin' mad nearly what they didn't say or exercise either! (page 167)

Passivity in irresolute the system is nearly as bad as actively working to go along the system, and Mildred sees that.  Of course what Mildred highlights is a fundamental puzzler for the black domestic worker of the fourth dimension–speak up and risk your job or stay silent at a cost to the overall status of those stuck in the organisation?  A very tough situation, and I, for ane, am glad that many strong men and women of all races took the take a chance to stand up and modify it.

Source: Copies graciously provided to both Amy and myself by the publisher in support of the project (Be sure to sign up for the giveaway. US just and International).

Buy It

Discussion Questions:

• How practise you think domestics decided where to depict the line in what they would and would not put up with in employment in white people's homes?
• Some of Mildred'due south employers seem to be sensitive to the racial and inequality bug and are very kind to Mildred.  Be that as information technology may, do you retrieve information technology is/was possible to rent a maid for your dwelling and not have a racist mind-set?
• Exercise you lot think the employers Childress depicts attempting to exploit Mildred were doing so out of racism, a power-trip, or greediness or some combination or all three?
• Mildred points out multiple times that she feels that the public ads encouraging people to accept each other "in spite of" their differences are still racist.  Practice yous think this is true?

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Source: https://opinionsofawolf.com/2011/11/12/book-review-like-one-of-the-family-by-alice-childress-the-real-help-reading-project/

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