"Life an't the movies"

When Allison writes about once talking to her mother about how she should be a movie star she says her mother responded saying “Life an’t the movies.” I think when Allison tells her mom, the waitress, that she should have been a Hollywood star that in a way she was being ironic or maybe even a little sarcastic because the stereotype of waitresses are that they are all aspiring actresses, almost like she is asking her mother why she is a waitress and not even trying to be a movie star. I had to think about this part after I read it because I was trying to get a deeper understanding of what this could mean. And her mother’s response was simple but it was also very tragic because it showed how her mother gave up on any kind of dreams and how she say the happy endings in the movies as something that can’t be attained in life. By saying this she is sending a message to her young daughter life isn’t happy and doesn’t go the way you want it to, that you are what you and there is no changing it. It is also ironic that her mother said life isn’t like the movies but Allison wrote a novel about her own life that could very well be a movie. Also Allison didn’t get down on herself like some might have but she became somebody important.

This story makes me a lot more humble and thankful for my background and for the resources I have. Unlike Allison I never was discouraged growing up about what I could be or told that life is as good as it seems. I’m proud of who I am and who I am being raised to be.