An Otherwise Unremarkable Day

Anjuelle D. Floyd

Psychologists say that ninety percent of what one learns is incidental. The events in

Edward P. Jones’s short story, “The First Day,” a first person narrative in his collection,

Lost in the City, affirms that.

It is the first day of school and the narrator “…On an otherwise unremarkable day…”

makes her trek to “…Seton Elementary, a time-worn, sad-faced building [that stands]

across the street from…[the church that the narrator’s mother attends] Mt. Carmel

Baptist...” And it is here that the young narrator learns the lesson of a lifetime, most

particularly concerning life in America.

On arriving at “…Seton…school……[a] woman… standing just inside the school door…

[and]…with pearls thick as jumbo marbles that come down almost to her waist…” greets

the narrator’s mother. (p. 28)

In addition to her …pearls…[the]…woman…,” a teacher, resembles other “…women…

greeting other parents and children…” They all appear to be cut “…out of the

advertisements in Ebony [magazine.] (p. 28)

When the narrator’s mother informs the teacher “…that we [the mother and the narrator]

live at 1227 New Jersey Avenue…the teacher (p. 28) after what “…seems [to be]

picturing in her head where they [the narrator and her mother] live…[the teacher] then…

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(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’, Lost in the City of 4

ISBN -00679258-X)
 An Otherwise Unremarkable Day
Anjuelle D. Floyd

shakes her head and says…” the narrator’s mother has brought the narrator to

“… the wrong school…” (p. 28)

Later at “…Walker Jones… a larger, newer school…” a place the narrator

“… immediately like[s] the mother remains agitated. The mother’s response to the

heavily pearled teacher at …Seaton Elementary School…has been, “…‘One monkey

don’t stop no show’…”

(p. 29)

The show about which the mother speaks is that of getting her child, the narrator,

educated. But Jones’s story is about much more than education.

America is a place where people come—a culture into which those born—are

commanded to endeavor toward the achievement of their dream(s). The desire of the

narrator’s mother for the narrator to attend …Seton Elementary… is intricately bound to

the mother’s nightmare--that of lacking an education.

Inside “…the crowded auditorium [at] Walker-Jones…school…” the narrator’s mother

approaches “…a woman at one of the tables…” She asks the …woman ‘Is this where

they register for school?’…”(p. 29)

Looking “… up as if she has heard this question once too often…the woman…nods [yes.]

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(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’, Lost in the City of 4

ISBN -00679258-X)
 An Otherwise Unremarkable Day
Anjuelle D. Floyd

On “…picking up a few pieces of paper from the table…the narrator’s mother then asks,

“…‘These the forms I gotta use?’...”

“…The woman tells…” the narrator’s mother “…that she need fill out only one…” (p.

30)

But there is a problem. And this is where the “…unremarkable…” becomes the

extraordinary.

The narrator’s mother on looking about the room then asks the woman at the table,

“… Would you help me fill out this form?... …I can’t read…” (p. 30)

“…Why sure, says [t]he woman…” at the table. [A]ppear[ing] happier…” the woman

“…finishes the form for her and her daughter…” The narrator step[s] “…aside..” She

and her mother “…find two chairs nearby and sit…” (p. 30)

“…The [narrator’s] mother answers the questions the woman reads off the form…the

questions go on…[and] with the purposefulness of a magician…” the narrator’s mother

“…takes from her pocketbook document after document… as if they would support…”

the narrator’s “…right to attend the school…” (p. 30)

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(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’, Lost in the City of 4

ISBN -00679258-X)
 An Otherwise Unremarkable Day
Anjuelle D. Floyd

The narrator states her mother “…has learned that money is the beginning and end of

everything in the world...” (p. 31)

When finished the narrator’s “…mother offers…”the woman who has read the questions

and written down the answers “…fifty cents...” (p. 31)

“…The woman’s hair [is] set in a mass of curlers and all of those curlers are made of

paper money, here a dollar bill, there a five-dollar bill…” (pp. 29-30),

And so the young narrator receives her first lesson at school when“…The woman…

accepts…” the money “..…without hesitation…” (p. 31)

In the privacy of her alert and receptive mind the young, and yet-named narrator has

concluded, “…This is school…This is going to school...” (p. 30)

10/6/2007 4
(all excerpts taken from Edward P. Jones’, Lost in the City of 4

ISBN -00679258-X)