Questions and Answers of ‘My Mother Never Worked’

 

Questions and Answers of ‘My Mother Never Worked’

Comprehension

1.     What kind of work did Martha Smith do while her children were growing up? List     some of the chores she performed.

      Martha Smith worked very hard at raising her children, doing farm chores, and               maintaining a household, but she did not work outside the home for pay-the only              kind of work recognized by the government.

 

2.     Why aren’t Martha Smith’s survivors entitled to a death benefit when their mother dies?

    According to the government, Martha Smith is not eligible for a death benefit because she was never employed.

 

3.     How does the government define work?

      The government defines work as an activity performed for compensation.

 

Purpose and Audience

 

1.     What point is the writer trying to make? Why do you suppose her thesis is never       explicitly stated?

      The essay’s thesis is that although Martha Smith did not work outside the home, the        work she did should be considered valuable enough to entitle her to Social Security          benefits. The thesis is never explicitly stated because the accumulation of concrete            details argues the author’s point more forcefully than world direct statement.

 

2.     This essay appeared in Ms. Magazine and other publications whose audiences are       sympathetic to feminist goals. Could it have appeared in a magazine whose audience   had a more traditional view of gender roles? Explain.

   This essay might have found sympathetic audiences in other publications. For   example, had it appeared in a magazine aimed at homemakers, many of these   readers, regardless of their opinions about feminism, might have seen similarities   between Martha Smith’s story and their own (or their mothers’ ) situations.

3.  Smith-Yackel mentions relatively little about her father in this essay. How can you  account for this?

    She mentions little about her father because the thesis of the essay does not concern him.

 

4.   This essay was first published in 1975. Do you think it is dated, or do you think the issues it raises are still relevant today?

    Students, depending on where they are from, may find the essay dated in that the rural way of life described is less common now. The issue the author raises, however, remains the same. A stay-at-home wife and mother is eligible for Social Security benefits only through her wage-earning husband.

 

Style and Structure

1.     Is the essay’s title effective? Is so, why? If not, what alternate title can you suggest?

    Most students will find the title is effective because it introduces the irony that runs through the essay and is summed up in the conclusion.

 

2. Smith-Yackel could have outlined her mother’s life without framing it with the telephone conversation. Why do you think she includes this frame?

    The frame provides the bureaucratic definition of work, which is contrasted in the essay with the meaning of work for the individual. It also establishes the contrast between the impersonal efficiency of the present and the warm memories of the past. These contrasts produce the irony that makes the essay so effective.

 

3. What strategies does Smith-Yackel use to indicate the passing of time in her narrative?

    She uses transitional words and phrases that mention the season or month and the year.

 

4.  This narrative piles details one on top of another almost like a list. Why does the writer include so many details?

   The many specific, concrete details make it clear that the writer, unlike the Social Security Office, feels her mother did work.

 

5.     In paragraphs 20 and 21, what is accomplished by the repetition of the word still?

    The repetition adds to the enormity of Martha Smith’s accomplishments by indicating that she continued to work even after illness and old age had set in.