"Mines" by Susan Straight

[Mrs. Terenzi]

Please discuss the character of Clarette.  You should consider any complexities, contradictions, moral ambiguities, etc.   Due Sunday 9/9 before midnight.

[Walid_94]

Clarette is a very mysterious character. Although she loves her family, she's always criticizing them with there every move: "Little dragon on his skull. Nothing in his skull." (173). Ray, Clarette's husband, shaves their sons head bald; she's angry about this in the beginning, but then she starts to love it as she doesn't have to take time to fix his hair like she has for her daughter, (although she still complains about his hair even when it’s bald). When Ray Jr. shaves his head, we find out that he has a scar when he was hit with a rock; Clarette doesn't ridicule her son for that fact although it is kind of the same as a tattoo on his skull "My son. His head naked, a little nick on the back of his skull, when he sees me and ducks down." (176). However, she's always ridiculing her nephew, as well as the inmates. On page 173, we find out that Clarrete went to college--so we automatically assume that she is educated and has an amazing job; however, that is not the case. Clarette works at a youth prison. Instead of furthering her education and career like Tika, love got in her way and she married Ray: "Except she's teaching African American studies there now, and I married Ray." Although she went to college, when she speaks to others, you would assume that she is uneducated--her syntax are really short as if she doesn't have the ability to create words. She also only makes about 30.000 a year, which is a bit weird since she went to college. 

I also feel like Clarette is a bit jealous of Tika; Tika did find a career, but Clarette didn't. She might also be jealous of her looks, "Fred says, 'How's your fine friend Tika? The one with green eyes' I roll my brown eyes." We can see that there is a bit of jealousy there; the narrator didn't have to include the "brown" in that sentence, but she did and we could see that Clarette might be jealous of Tika's green eyes. 

When Clarette is working at the youth prison, she always curses at her co-workers and the inmates; however, when she goes home, she cleanses her mouth from all the swears she had said "When I get home, and the kids start their homework, i have to stand at the sink and wash my hands and change my mouth. My spit, everything, I think." (174). She becomes a new person at home for her children, so they won't be corrupted like her nephew. When she's at work, she feels trapped; and when she's at home, she still feels trapped. She always has to do shores in both the prison and her home as she is always repeating the short, yet story-telling sentence, "Laundry." (175). At prison, she does launtry, but when she's home, she's always on the dish washer "At home I stand in front of my washer." 

She says, "‘How could you?' I try to whisper, but I can't whisper." (176) as if no one can understand her needs or what she wants in life. She always feels imprisoned at her own home, almost like she works at the prison 24/7. Everyday she wakes up there is something wrong with her head-migraines after migraines: “In the morning, my forehead feels like it’s full of hot sand.” (179), “Buzzing in my head.” (177).

This is a question for anyone to answer, why do you guys think she always makes references to the “head” and the temple? Do you think she’s sick?

[BadrKis]

   Clarette is a very diffrent character, she has an unusual way of being described by the narrator. She loves her family and care for them but at the same time she critisizes them on very small deatails and aspects of their lives. She is not like other women, who have a simple life with a family she has many hardships she has to cope with such as working in Jail and being black. At the Jail she feels more open to do what she wants and she even likes doing the chores at the jail, at home she feels trapped and deprived of many things. Her character connects with many of Kate Chopin's female characters as they are all diffrent from the normal woman lifestyle at home. They are all rebeleous characters, with their own internal problems such as Clarette' s headaches, and Mrs. Mllard's heart condition.   

    I feel like many of the Woman characters in works of literature are similar, as they all have connection that are very general, but these conections prove to show a slight comparison. Clarette's character is unusual and her actions and thoughts are also unusual, so that the actions can prove her character and what kind of person she really is inside. By seeing Clarette's thoughts about other people, alot is shown about her personality and the way she works in her mind.

[ayeenghi]

Clarette is mentally a very strong woman. She works at YA all day and has to deal with a bunch of delinquents who bare shaved heads and tattoos all over their face and bodies. She comes home to her family physically drained. Even though she is always tired from her job, she keeps fighting. She doesn't give up, and she doesn't complain. Like Walid said, she always ridicules her nephew for having tattoos. She doesn't want her children to grow up to be anything like the kids she deals with at YA or her nephew. She looks down on the kids with tattoos, saying "I want to slap the dragon off the side I'd his stupid skulls" and calling them fools. To answer Walid's question, her head always hurts because she deals with so many hardships; she has to keep the boys at YA in check, she has to care for her children(pick them up from the bus stop, do Danae's hair, do the dishes and the laundry, etc.) even though she says her temples ache because Esther did her hair. "He knows we have to wear our hair tight back for security. And Esther just did my braids Sunday. That's gotta be why my temples ache now." After she breaks off the fight in the end, it's obvious that she is angry. She's bleeding and her hair is ripped out of her scalp. But she doesn't complain about it, she just "opens the classifieds again and puts [her] finger on Upright." Moreover, she just wants to buy the piano for Ray Jr. She puts her family before herself; she is selfless. After having to handle all the difficulties her job gives her, she still wants the best for her kids and erases all evidence of anger she hides from working at YA. Clarette is a strong woman with a lot of patience.

[katya.perez74]

I think that Clarette has two major aspects of her personality that contrast greatly. One part of her, the part that we see her express inside of the jail, is very "hard" and raw, and she always acts a little rough around the edges. She mentions having to "put her chin up" like a man so that she can be taken more seriously, considering that she is one of the only women working at the facility. Clarette doesn't seem to have much of a filter when she's at the jail, and tells off the inmates using vulgar language often.

However, when Clarette isn't inside of the prison, she is much more reserved. She keeps her opinions to herself, like how angry she was at Tiza for criticizing her career choice. She also is much more sensitive, and discusses how emotional she was when her son cut his hair and changed his childlike attitude.

I feel like the reason for that sensitivity is that Clarette doesn't want her son, Ray Jr., to be as worthless as the inmates or his own father. She sees how her son's environment and his father Ray are influencing him to take on a persona of a punk, who needs to fit a thug-like stereotype in order to avoid being bullied.

Clarette wants to be freed from her husband's irresponsible influence, and is tired of being verbally and emotionally abused by her rude and goal-less husband. I also feel like she wants to be able to express her opinions and emotions more often, and experiences her headaches and temple-tensions because she is constantly holding in a lot of things that she wants to say.

[Mrs. Terenzi]

Thanks for the well-written response, Katya.  You touch on several things that we could discuss in more depth tomorrow.

[Mrs. Terenzi]

Walid, it was very clever of you to pick out all the references to the head and temple.  Some of your classmates below came up with some good ideas.  Isn't it interesting that Clarette disdains the bald-headed kid, but she must pull her own hair back so tight because it's a safety issue.  Her own hair gets pulled out.  Hair is definitely significant and we'll try to figure it out tomorrow.

[Mrs. Terenzi]

I'm interested to hear more about how Clarette connects with the other characters and the "Woman characters in works of literature."  

[Mrs. Terenzi]

Nghi, I agree with you that Clarette is an unlikely hero.  As Walid pointed out, she is college-educated, but it doesn't seem she is living her dreams.  Sometimes life gets in the way, but as you say, "she keeps fighting."

[kevins19957]

Regarding Clarette's interaction with others, she seems to have a very interesting knowledge of the kids in the Youth Authority where she works. Clarette clearly understands their backrounds, regarding gangs and their signs, and sees them as somewhat naive and foolish. But at the same time, I think she also believes that these kids have not been able to come to terms with how society works and what their place in it is. In other words they have not gone through an awakening that would propel them into better things. Similar to other stories from Kate Chopin and her characters I believe Clarette is also trapped in her life with her kids and her job. I'm not implying that she does not neccesarily hate her life, but is just so invested with her occupations that it would be too difficult to change right now. At one point she mentions that she is so physically exhausted that her hands "stiff" when she is trying to do Danae's hair. In general she mentions that she wakes to shaking hands.

The fact the she is soo sued to this life of hard work embellishes her dignity and determination to support her family even though she works in relatively low paying job ( even though she has a degree). It somewhat makes me what to think of the lives of many Americans today. Many come out of college to not find a job for months and when they do they start of low. They must still pay off thousands in student loans and eventualy could support a family
. To me, her struggles depict that of the American spirit and determination to continue fighting even though times may seem bad.

[kevins19957]

Regarding her commitment to her family life, Clarette works "seven to three. I’m home when the kids get off the bus." This emphasizes that although she works with the "fools" in her job her primary objective is her home life. This again conveys her dignity and determination to face adversity, yet still has a fighter attitude.

[maggylovesjellyfish]

Clarette is a woman who sacrifices her own independence and individual character for her family. Everything she does in her life is attached to her family and she leaves no time to be herself and enjoy her own life. She is a devoted mother and all of the stress that she goes through to provide for them detaches her from her husband. Not only does Clarette sacrifice her passions and freedom, but she also sacrifices her marriage. Clarette works at the prison soley in order to support her family, this is not a job that she has tirelessly worked for in college or one that she is excited to go to every morning. This job is perfect, in her standards, because she makes a decent salary and she "gets bennies" (174). She desperately avoids confrontation about her job with Tika, who attempts to pull her into guilt and shame. Tika asks her, "Doesn't it hurt your soul? How can you stand it?" (174). In fact, this job does not affect Clarette at all. She detaches herself from any emotional response and even avoids having a voice at the prison. Clarette really has no voice in her life at all. If she says anything, it is a response to somebody else. When she does have a reaction to something, like Ray Jr's blad haircut, she wants to say "How could you? ... but [she] can't whisper" (176) and fails to voice herself. Her own health is even suffering, as she references pain in her temples and headaches multiple times throughout the story, but the only time she does something for herself is getting her braids done (which is really a part of her job, seeing as it needs to be tied back and secured). Clarette's life is extremely mundane and she works through a routine. The only thing she seems to care about, but she does care a lot about, is her family. When her daughter wants a boook she buys it, she does her daughter's hair, reads to her daughter, and even after a hard day of work sits ext to the washer to make sure her daughter has neat jeans because "even the wards have pressed jeans" (179). Clarette also is constantly comparing her life outside of work to the way the prison is and the wards. She is fearful and disapproves of bald haircuts because the inmates are shaved bald, and she does not want her son to have any associations with the prison. To her, this is like a sign of him turning evil. This is also why the nick on his head is mentioned, because "tattoos [are] like scabs" (175) and the inmates are branded with gang tattoos. Clarette is a woman so deprived from living life, that perhaps her constant attention to her daughter is a reflection of how she would want her own life to be and she wants to provide a good life for her. Clarette also puts her focus on the piano for her son, because she knows playing the piano will keep him out of trouble and save her grief should he end up in prison. Another interesting aspect of Clarette is her speech. Though she went to college, she speaks very broken English infiltrated by slang. This could be because of her lack of a voice or to highlight the life inside of the prison and who she is spending time with. Perhaps Clarette is embrassed by her lack of success and does not want to bring attention to her education. Clarette is a machine beat down and smothered by society. She is the breadwinner. She is also the caretaker, and even though she is a mother she is also stripped of her feminity. She silences herself at work because "talking reminds them that [she is] a woman" (174) and she has "all that pretty hair [but scrapes] it back so sharp" (179). Clarette drains herself to attempt to ensure somebody else's happiness.

[maggylovesjellyfish]

Walid, I think Clarette's references to her temple refer to poor mental health because she has no outlet to express herself and be an individual. It also may refelect her fears on how the inmate's heads are tattoo covered and how baldness has a negative connotation, and just how much she does not want her or her family to get caught up in that lifestyle.

[maggylovesjellyfish]

On the contrary, I think Clarette is extremely weak. She lacks any true devotion to herself and is only committed to the tasks that allow her to selflessly provide for her family. She is submissive and conceals herself.

[samanthaleecoleman]

Clarette is a very dynamic character. It’s clear she is two-sided. On one hand, Clarette is unyielding and has an against-the-world type of attitude. In the opening of “Mines”, Clarette feels the urge to “slap the dragon off the side of [her nephew’s] stupid skill” (173), which imply that she feels internally conflicted with her family (or with life, in general). She works at a youth prison; hence I believe she possesses the right to feel conflicted with her life. She comes across people—and under worse circumstance, children—who are restricted from life. The speaker uses the word “walls”, which set the implication that the youth that live in the prison, are stuck behind the prison walls; the youth are being kept from freedom and the outside world. Clarette feels like she is a part of the limitations because this is her second home. She “rolls” her eyes (173), revealing her against-the-world attitude. One the other hand, Clarette seems to be a nurturing, hard-working mother. When she comes home after a long day of work, she stands at the sink and “change[s] [her] mouth” (174). She cares about the welfare of her children; she makes sure they are going to/coming home from school safely as well as making sure they have food to eat. A few times the speaker mentions prices (i.e. fifteen ninety nine, four hundred dollars, etc.) which prove that Clarette watches the finances; she checks to make sure she has enough money to raise her family. The speaker also mentions that Clarette’s temples hurt due to a lack of sleep (175), which emphasizes that she is hard-working.

 

I feel like there is just so much to say about her character that I almost get lost in my own thoughts while thinking about hers!

[kev55guevara]

Clarette is a complex character, she seems to be a very caring and strong woman at home. While she is working at the youth prison, she seems to be miserable and angry. She tries to remain silent to the inmates in the youth prison, and she just tries to ignore the violence all around her. Clarette can not remain silent, and is constantly cursing out the other inmates.Clarette obviously dislikes the kids in the youth prison, and she thinks of them as misguided. She points out how one Chicano inmate has the phrase "sorry my little grandma" on his neck in spanish, and she says "I bet that makes her feel so much better." Her tone is clearly sarcastic, and it implies that she really does not care much about the inmates. At home she behaves different around her children because she tries to help them as much as she can. She cares about her children because she works hard everyday to provide for them and she always helps them with their homework at night. She also seems to be worried about her son being in a youth prison. When her husband, Ray, shaved their son's head, she hated the look because it reminded her of the shaved heads that the inmates have. She also tried to buy her son a five hundred dollar piano,but her husband refused to let her buy it for their son. He thinks that the piano will cause the other kids to mess with their son, but Clarette points out that the only reason that other kids would mess with their son is because he looks like a criminal. By the end of the story she decides to buy the piano for her son, which shows that she wants him to succeed in something that will keep him out of jail. 

[dmvargas1995]

Clarette is a strong woman. She is in a world right now where children all around her are following one another and trying to be people that they are not. She has to be two different people in two different places. At work she has to put on this tough act and be like one of the men just to handle a bunch of teenagers that have ratios everywhere and represent different places, names, phrases etc. Clarette is constantly surrounded by people, teenagers, and even her own husband that talk nonsense all the time. She has to see her own nephew in jail and keep him in line hoping that one day he will get out. When she isn't being tough at the jail, she is home being a mother to two children and is now dealing with her young boy growing up and changing into the kids that she sees everyday. Her husband doesn't care about helping their son he is encouraging him to be tough and Clarette is becoming stressed. There is a constant mentioning of tension at the temples and headaches, this shows that Clarette is dealing with a lot and is trying to keep her head held high . She is always tired and fighting to get her work done, pay the bills and provide for her family on her own. Her hair is in braids and tied back in a bun for security and in the end it is ironic that one braid accidentally falls out and gets pulled which draws blood and causes her pain. Clarette says, "some mother's son. It's hard not to feel the sting in my belly." She shows that she feels bad that she has to see all of this happen to a young teenager knowing that these boys are other women's sons. She can relate to this because she is a mother that is protecting her own son from all that these boys are going through.