First-Person Fiction

Edward P. Jones’s “The First Day” is about a girl whose mom is taking her to school for the first time. The story is told through the girl’s perspective as her mom tries to get her registered for school. Even though the story is being told in the present tense, it actually takes place in the past. Multiple hints are given that this a retelling of a distant memory such as “My shoes are my greatest joy, black patent leather miracles, and when one is knicked at the toe later that morning in class, my heart will break” (Jones 349). The mother is unsuccessful at registering her daughter at the school she wants her to go to since they live outside the area that the school district serves. However, the mother does not give up and takes her to another school where she can register her. The story ends with the mother walking away and the daughter getting ready to officially start her first day of school.

From reading the story, I can sense that this memory is an important one that the daughter has. She describes what happens as if she was there in the moment — from the smell of the Dixie Peach hair grease in her hair to how the floor at one of the elementary schools she went to had white papers littering the floor. To her, this is probably a rite of passage not only for herself but for her family as well since she will be learning to read and write.  An emphasis is also placed on how her mother is seemingly well prepared to make sure she gets her daughter enrolled in school given the amount of paperwork she has brought with her even though she cannot read herself. The daughter is also probably nervous on her first day but she does not show it as she feels like she has been prepared for this moment her entire life.