Introduction

From: The Norton Book of Women’s Lives” edited by Phyllis Rose

There were a lot of quotes that I could have pulled from the introduction, but this one stuck out to me the most.

“But, Milk 2, Ice, Trolley” was a bracing reminder that my mother's Self was not the Self I saw in her, and her life was not her-life-in-relation-to-me or even, it seemed, to my family. And if she saw her life as crucially informed by milk, ice, and beer deliveries, who was I to say it was not? Everyone is entitled to her own autobiography. Every autobiographer gets to choose, select, and otherwise create her own past, her own “Self.”” (Rose, 36)

At first glance, the words “Milk 2, Ice, Trolley” don't seem all that important to someone's life. These are all common things. But to her mother, these things were crucial to her life and her story. These words might be simple, but the meaning behind them is anything but that. This quote brings up the idea that everything has meaning. Just because something does not mean something to you, does not mean that it is meaningless to other people. In this case, milk, ice, and beer deliveries mean nothing to me or the author, but it clearly means a lot to her mother and how she viewed her life.

This quote also goes to prove one of Rose’s previous points, that no story is a bad story because every story has meaning. Writing is not just for one group of people. There is something for everybody, no matter how big or how small it may seem to be. She also mentioned that in the past women’s stories have only been published if they married a “powerful” man or had to overcome intense obstacles. But people, especially women, are more than their marriage or the struggles that they face. These are important aspects of their lives, but they are not the only parts of it. Everything that happens is something worth writing about if it is meaningful to the writer.

Word Count: 345