No mother should have to bury her child. Can you think of anything more tragic? Children should always outlive both of their parents. This is the natural order, but sometimes war happens. Sometimes war destroys the natural order. Today I had a memorial for my son.
I gave birth to six beautiful boys. They were all perfectly healthy and very strong. My eldest was the most ambitious, so he moved to the North to be a big business man. My other five sons remained down here in the South with me, although they all moved to different states. I've got one in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. If I were to be completely honest, I never wanted my eldest to go to the North. We do things differently here in the South, and I didn't think that he would adjust well to life up there. I was afraid he would change, but through his letters I learned that he really did enjoy living in the North. He had found his new home.
I got six letters when this stupid war began from my sons telling me that they were going to war. The problem was I couldn't take a side. I know I live in the South and I should side with the South, but my eldest was fighting for the North. How can I be against one my sons?
A letter came in the mail about a month ago. It was from a man I didn't know, but he said he knew my son. He told me my eldest son was dead. He was so young. He didn't deserve to die. Growing up he was the sweetest little boy and he was so good to his younger brothers. You see, I lost my husband after my last son was born so my eldest had to step up and be there for his brothers. I would have freed all my slaves willingly if it could have prevented the war. Some people tell me that I am lucky because I still have five other healthy sons. That doesn't make the loss of my eldest easier. No mother should have to bury her son.
The memorial was beautiful. I buried a box of all his favorite things as a kid in the backyard of our home. It's a miracle we still have this house, but that's a story for another time. All of his brothers came down for this event because they loved their brother. In the end those Southern boys and now dead Northern boy were still family.
This is the reason why I am writing this letter. To hopefully remind a few of you Southerners that the North is still our family. The United States are just that, united. I know you will call me unpatriotic for saying this, but the dead never die in vain. Really they were both fighting for unity, just two different kinds. Brothers and Sisters, it is time to be a family again.
Let us be kind to our Northern brothers staying here in the South. Let us open our doors and show them warmth. Let us bury our dead in pride. Let us be stronger than we have ever been and unite with the North. We lost the war, but we still have hope for another day.
Sincerely,
A Mother
Author's Note:
So today I decided to explore the idea of a mother having to bury their child after a war. This sadly is a scenario that has been faced throughout history. I feel like it is an incredibly relatable topic, and a sad one at that. I was inspired by the death of Karna, who was the son of Surya and Kunti. He is a brother of the Pandavas, but not a Pandava himself. This is a story from the Mahabharata. I know in the Civil War family members were fighting family members, so I wanted to place my story in this time frame. I wanted to explore the emotions that a mother might have felt if she had sons fighting on both sides. Although I do not know if a mother had sons fighting on both sides, I believe it is highly likely. I enjoyed writing this story, but it was also hard to write. It was hard to give voice to something that I have no personal experience with. It was hard to find the words to use to express that much pain. War is such a horrible reality. I hope you enjoy my story and the emotion behind it.
Picture Info: Civil War
Hey Hayley! I really like the frame you chose for the retelling of this story. The Civil War setting really exemplifies the idea of a brother-against-brother mentality. Karna was definitely divided from the rest of the Pandavas in this sort of way. Your tone overall is fitting for a mother writing in a Civil War era, and I really think you hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph. The only thing I might suggest is not mentioning the house if you're not going to elaborate on it, because it leaves the reader wondering what the story behind it is, and can be distracting from the rest of the story. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThis story was so well done! I love the idea of a mother submitting this to a newspaper for publication. The way you transitioned from the introduction to the beginning of the mother's story was so interesting and I love the voice you gave her. It is such a difficult thing to think about because Kunti has six sons in the war and Karna is fighting against the others, but they are all her sons. You did a great job with this story!
ReplyDeleteI like that this was written as a sort of personal journal entry that was sent to a newspaper. I did enjoy reading your story, but I was hard for me to connect it to an exact part of the Mahabharata. I know there is a lot of death in the story, but there could be death in any story. The only other connect I saw was the number of children. I would make sure that you connect your portfolio in at least some way to what you have been reading.
ReplyDeleteI only saw a few mistakes. In the beginning you mention that “My other five sons remained down here in the South with me, although a few live in different states.” I believe it should say “lived” since the rest of the sentences are all past tense to signify their death.
Overall, it was written very well. I enjoyed your writing style and it was easy to get through.
I have read a few of your stories so far and I enjoy reading them so I came back to read another one for this week. I think that you did a really good job on this story. I could really feel the devastation that the mother was feeling knowing that one of her children was dead. I like how you turned this story into one about the civil war. I think it makes it more modern, even though the civil war happened a while back, and it was more relatable than the original story. Your story flowed really well and I enjoyed reading it. I liked how it was from the mother's perspective and she was trying to get through to all the other readers that the united states should remain a whole because they are family. At first I didn't see the connection to the original story but I definitely see it now that I have read the author's note.
ReplyDeleteHayley,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this story it made me think of my uncle Richard that passed last month and the letter that my aunt wrote to him after his death. I know that you mainly talk about a mother mourning the death of her kids, but it resembled what my aunt is going through. I think that when it comes to war, no one ever gets to hear the point of view from the mother. Mostly people hear about the deaths of so many soldiers and also see the reaction of their wives and kids if they have any. But no one ever hears about the reaction from the mothers. While I was reading this story it made me think of that perspective. Your story was easy to follow and it really touched on an emotional side. I do wish that you could have added a little bit more description of what happened in the book to your story. Other than that really good job!