Life is made up of a number of events. Some bring happiness while others are a source of pain and misery. This essay is a focus on the events in the life of a female interviewee. Going by the name Grace, which is not her real name, this humble lady accepted to answer my questions concerning her life from the comfort of her living room. Her home is a walking distance from where I live, and this made it easy to do the interview in a late evening after work. Grace is a white woman who is quite beautiful; an attribute that is still evident despite the fact that she is past her youth. She is thirty nine years old. She is a dedicated Roman Catholic just like her husband of eleven years. Their three children are highly disciplined as shown by their behavior while I am in their house interviewing their mother who is extremely cooperative throughout the interview. The major areas of the interview are marriage, work, family, sexuality, gender, and social class and how these elements affect her life and her family.
Gender and Race
To start with work, Grace began working before she got married. Despite the sufficient resources within the family, she refused to quit working when her husband asked her to. When she looks back, she feels that she should have listened to her husband. The impact of her work on the family is hard to miss. This is especially true with the kids who are not enthusiastic about doing anything with their mother. They carry out their duties as if Grace is not with them. She tells me that she has consulted a family counselor who has told her that the kids have adjusted to the reality that their mother is not going to be with them, and therefore they need to learn to be on their own. Grace sheds tears as she calls out to the youngest of her kids; six year old Nelly and cuddles her. When I ask her why she cannot quit her job at this point, she tells me that the company that she works for has given her the topmost position and everyone seems to be relying on her to move it forward. Therefore she cannot just quit. This means that the children will continue living as if they do not have a mother. People try to balance between the demands of the work place and the responsibilities of the family; but this has not happened for Grace.
Moving on to gender and race, Grace is unhappy that even at such a late moment in the history of both civil rights as well as human rights people have not learned to respect those who do not look like them. Her anger is based on the fact that the groups who were being considered weak have proved to be much more capable than those who were thought to be invincible, and this has not made other people in society change their mindsets. This is true for both race and gender. On race, Grace points out the fact that African Americans and Asians who were victims of fallacies and prejudice have taken over the academic field by storm and dominated the sports world. Regarding gender, she points out how women have made excellent leaders in both public and private positions. On a personal note, Grace tells me that her husband angered her by asking her to quit her job as if she is the one who was automatically meant to do so. This is in spite of the fact that she was earning more than him. She says that this made her decide not to quit even if she would have done so at her own will.
Other issues that Grace touches on include sexuality where she says that there is a commercialization of sexuality among women. On marriage, she is of the opinion that if the man and the woman respect and love each other, it can always work. She describes social class as a source of pressure and stress especially for people who are not independent minded. She tells me that she is happy to be herself and does not accept pressure from any quarter.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Grace is a working mother who feels that workplace demands have negatively affected her children’s lives. She claims to have felt bad when her husband asked her to quit her job, and blamed it on gender prejudices. Marriage, according to her, takes respect and love from both parties and social class can only stress people who are not independent minded.