Analysis Of The Estrangement By Jamaica Kincaid, My Speech...

One’s judgement of others is a commonality amongst all people; however, to admit one is wrong about one’s perceptions is infrequent. In both essays, â€Å"The Estrangement† by Jamaica Kincaid, and â€Å"My Speech at West Point† by Marjane Satrapi in the book The Writer’s Presence, the writers make comment on their life experiences particularly about their bad judgment of others and the impact that has had on them. Kincaid’s essay is about the rough relationship she had with her mother and how her criticism of her changed after her experience as a mother. Similarly, Satrapi writes about the point in her life she began learning one she realizes that the view she had of the people in her country was wrong during her time at West Point. Both provide†¦show more content†¦Nevertheless, she accepts her mistake and learns from her experience by acknowledging it, â€Å"I don’t know anything† (Kincaid 249). Ultimately, Satrapi co nveys that there not only needs to be progress in her country, but in her thinking as well. This brings to light how the only way to diminish social issues, our opinions need to be altered. Likewise, Kincaid wrongly judges her mother. In her essay, â€Å"The Estrangement’† she tells that she stopped talking to her mother after she spoke unkindly about her in a conversation they had through the phone. She describes her mother as a person that was seen as nice by others, but not by her nor her younger siblings. She asserts that her mother, â€Å"said horrible things to us more often than not† and that the nice person everyone saw in her â€Å"was not at all known to us† (Kincaid 170). In other words, her mother was unaffectionate to them. A statement she makes evident when she tells about the time his step-father was buried next to her mother and her uncertainty of whether he would have liked that based on her and her siblings preferences. She claims, â€Å"we would rather be dead than spend eternity lying next to her† (Kincaid 170). In other terms, they despised her mother for the treatment she gave them. However, later in the text, the re is a shift in tone: from hate to acknowledgement and love. Her perception of her mother changes after she realizes how