A Chair for My Mother

Vera B. Williams

Characters – Rosa , Rosa’s mother and Rosa’s grandmother

Synopsis - A Chair for My Mother is told from the first-person point of view of a young girl who
watches her mother work hard to bring home money, specifically tips to put into a large jar. The little
girl says that they are saving up the coins for a new chair, because their old furniture had burned up
in a fire at their old house. She tells the events of the fire and how she, her mother, and her
grandmother had to go stay with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt and uncle then moved downstairs, so
the girl's mother was left to fill the apartment. Everyone in the neighborhood pitched in to help
them decorate their new place bringing a rug, new curtains, a kitchen table and more. The story
returns to present day, a year after the fire. The jar is now full, so they count up all the change and
put them in rolls. They tried many different chairs until they found the perfect one, red with pink
flowers on it. The story wraps up with the girl, her mother, and her grandmother spending time
together enjoying their new chair.

Plot – 1) People who do mental and/or physical work are called human resources. Human resources
work hard to make and do things for us.

- 2) The money people earn for work is called income. People spend some of their income to
buy things they want. People can keep some of their income to buy things in the future. This is called
saving.

- 3) The girl and her mother had a savings goal. A savings goal is a good or service that people
want in the future. It can be hard to reach a savings goal because there are so many things people
might want to buy with the money they have saved.

Moral Values – 1) Generosity is important in hard times

2) Love and tenderness filled with the affirmation of life
3) Hard work, empathy and appreciation can consider how they would handle and
begin to rebuild their life after