Thank You M'am (Reaction Paper)

Thank You Ma’am is an American story written by Langston Hughes which talks about a boy who wanted to buy a blue suede shoes but he has no money, he tried to snatch a purse from a woman. Not lucky for him, he got caught but instead to punish him, the woman helped the boy. She fed the boy and gave some money to buy shoes. She even let the boy free. The woman represents how kind and caring she was.

In the deconstruction of Thank You Ma’am, the author opposes the things that the woman did for the boy. For me, I think this work was a bad choice for me to read because we people are different. It depends to someone if he/she will punish the child or not. But it is a child so we should not punish it because it is bad to punish or abuse a child. If a child did wrong, just told him/her what is right or wrong? Advise him/her not to do such things like that because it is an evil thing. It can be scolded but in a calm manner. We can treat them as our child. The more we treat them kindly, the more they love us. If we punish them or scolded them badly, the more they do evil things.

I don’t like the reading because like I mention earlier, we people are different. God makes us so special, He gave life and place to live but He didn’t make us equally. We have different traits and minds. I respect what the author wrote in the deconstruction of Thank You Ma’am. Yes, all he/she wrote are all correct. There is a responsibility that those who have done wrong will be punished. But if it a child to be punished, it is not right. It is a child abuse. To be punished is the way so that you can move on or change the bad things you have done but it is not always right especially if it is a child.

In the reading, I surprised when the author said “

There are many faulty choices of judgments made in this comment, mainly because the outcome of the situation would almost never happen in the real world”. Focus on the “...Almost never happen in the real world”, yes, it is true but there are some like some celebrities. They have charity works so that they can help to other people especially to children. Some rich people who are caring and kind also do like that. For me, it is not “almost” because many are so kind and caring. I’m just delighted when the author have this saying “as complicated as life is, there will not always be someone for you to lean and depend on”. It is true because we should not always be dependent. We should live and do our very own. We should be independent especially when you’re growing up, going to college and have own family. We should not always depend on our parents or friends.

I can relate this in my own life. When I was a kid, I usually bought lollipops in the store but my parents would disagree because it will destroy my teeth. I wanted to buy those sweet lollipops so I got money on the purse of my mother. But I got caught by my father and instead to scold me, he just advises me not to do that. He said to put back the moneys and he will buy for me. I do what my father said and went with him to the store. But I learned a new lesson about what I have done wrong.

Thank You M'am Whole Story:

http://www.americanliterature.com/Hughes/SS/ThankYouMam.html

In making reaction paper, the following links are the guides:

http://www.kean.edu/~intdes/Program%20Documents/Reaction%20Paper.pdf

http://www.oswego.edu/~burrell/reactionpapers.htm

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081026052540AAcuenj

http://www.essaytown.com/writing/write-response-essay-reaction-essay

http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/libarts/polsci/reactionpapers.html

http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/libarts/polsci/sample.html

http://faculty.southwest.tn.edu/jfriedlander/reactionpaper.htm