Take My Hand – Literature and Immigration

My Experience

I had the book previously and it was just sitting on my bookshelf. When it was time to start picking another new text to read, I read the back cover of the book again and I knew I wanted to pick this story as my choice. The back cover provides a nice, short, yet enticing view of what the story holds. I knew once I re-read the summary, I wanted to explore the book. Another thing that led me to want to read the story, is that on the back it states, “inspired by true events.” It made me think is this based on a specific story. Does the author have a connection to this story?

In Take My Hand, Civil Townshend works as a nurse at the Montgomery Family Clinic. She has her first home visit with the sisters, India and Erica. At first, Civil notices the unsanitary conditions around the house, but that doesn’t stop her from her role. The way the author describes the conditions of the way they’re living, their circumstances, and how the system is set, is very detailed. I am very interested in this book as it focuses on women’s choices on their bodies. The book also touches upon how vulnerable populations like immigrants, marginalized groups, and minorities are affected by an unstructured system.

In Civil’s next visit, she meets Mace Williams, the father of India and Erica. She invites the sisters to the mall to get new clothes. It is described that the sisters wore raggedy and dirty clothes We learn the dad cannot read, also has a foul odor, and looks similar to his mother, Miss. Williams. In addition, Civil also washed and combed India’s and Erica’s hair out, as well as gave them a bath at Civil’s home. She also encounters her old boyfriend Ty, who expresses his opinions on how Civil is doing with her clients. It upsets her, and it seems as though she feels attacked in some way.

Classifying My Experience

One experience that I identified as I was reading Take My Hand, was Empowerment. Empowerment is defined as “The feeling of knowing and claiming your rights. You feel that you have the freedom and power to control what happens to you.” I will explain with book examples why and how I felt empowerment through the author’s way of structuring the story.

Edit: I have been experiencing optimism a lot. This is referred to as “The belief the positive outcomes are more likely than negative ones.” I didn’t mention this in my draft post; however, this seems like it captures what I am feeling more recently.

Features Prompting My Experience

The chapters include the years 1973 and 2016. In 1973, this is where Civil meets with India and Erica and is working at the clinic. While 2016 shows her many years later, even after she mentions her father passes, that she still thinks about the Williamses’ family. It is clear, even though it has not been mentioned yet, that these two sisters India and Erica have made a significant impact on Civil. I am curious as to what that impact is, and how I will be able to understand it considering the different time in history this book partially occurs in.

In chapter 4, Civil meets the two sisters and their grandmother, Mrs. Willimas, where she is first greeted by the sisters, then welcomed into their home by their grandmother. She notices the foul odor and the living conditions these girls live in, although made her physically disgusted, did not judge once, or at least it wasn’t made known.

– Read the last paragraph starting with “The first thing that hit me was the odor.”

– Focus on the fourth paragraph starting with “She wiped her hands on her dress….” and reading until the last sentence “Refusing food or drink in somebody’s home could be taken as an insult.”

Here, I experience a sense of optimism, defined as “The belief the positive outcomes are more likely than negative ones.” Although the living conditions aren’t sanitary, Civil doesn’t let that affect her professionalism, and almost like she’s being optimistic. She even tried Mrs. Williams’ stew that she made and offered to her.

In the same chapter, as Civil and the sisters are talking about how to take care of herself properly, it is clear that these two girls struggle to understand their bodies and how to appropriately care for themselves.

– Focus on middle of the page with the sentence starter “Ya’ll need some more of these?” Read all the way down.

– Focus on the fourth line stating “Miss Townshend?” Stop reading until “Yes ma’am.”

As I was reading this, it made me appreciate my empowerment in the way that I am able to make my own decisions, care for my body and my health effectively, and knowing that I am in a lot more control about how I take care of myself. It is clear that Civil is considerate and almost grown to be passionate as later in the book, she still talks about this family even years later.

Extending into optimism, the best way I can explain my experience is being hopeful. It is again very clear that Civil is committed to helping these girls which I appreciate the dedication this character has. Civil also fights for the family to get a three-bedroom apartment so the government is able to help them. She consults this with her boss.

– Focus on line seven starting with “Honey, we got families of five in two-bedroom apartments.” Read until the last sentence stating “I understand. But we even got some homeless families.”

– Focus on the last paragraph with the statement: “I’d taken the first step to helping the family, and it felt so good.” Read the rest of paragraph.

Civil acknowledges her dedication in taking the first step in helping the Williamses’, which is very powerful as a character and person, to know you are making a difference, even behind the scenes. Reading this made me very hopeful and intrigued in the next steps. I probably will continue reading the book as I am also becoming more passionate about their story.

The interactions between the sisters and Civil show the girls warming up to Civil. India and Erica are curious about Civil’s life, shown through the questions they ask. As they ask questions, it seems like this makes Civil even more determined to get them a better home.

– Focus on the last paragraph starting with “I brought in one of the dining room chairs so they could both sit at my desk.”

Narrative Technologies at Work

As I look through the list of technologies, the best fit for a narrative technology is Shame reducer defined as “a narration technology that presents a variety of cultural norms in a non-judgmental way, encouraging us to love and feel empathy for these characters.” I feel like I can relate this to the way Civil interacts with her job. I also don’t want this to be misinterpreted in an offensive way, but it seems as though throughout history, African Americans are part of a marginalized group that may have limited access to the best care in general. We see that here specifically with India and Erica living with their grandmother. They don’t go to school, they’re parents aren’t around, they’re getting shots indicating a birth control injection. However, it is noted that both sisters are very different in their cycles. One bleeds all the time, and the other hasn’t yet. But she still received shots of that birth control. This only leads me to make a theory that Civil decides to explore this issue and help these sisters get the right care as she seems descriptively and I’m sure vividly upset if this wasn’t a story, and we experienced this personally.

I believe that shame reducer is best fit explaining how the way the author presents the characters helps readers like me not only try to understand their situation but also empathize with them. I have felt nothing but hope, optimism, and actually wonder because I am curious to how the timelines connect in the story, as far as what happened from 1973 all the way to 2016 where Civil is much older yet still mentions this family in her later years. In the story the author set the setting where health wasn’t its’ best especially for women.

Final Thoughts for Now

I want to experience immersion with this story. As a woman myself I am a firm believer that women deserve to make decisions on their own bodies right, and I hope this story shares a journey of how we got from not being able to access good health care to now (disregarding any expectations that may not be shown). I am excited to see how this story continues to play out and look forward to experiencing new technologies as well.

Work Cited

Technologies — WonderCat

Experiences – WonderCat