Easy Life And Two Old Women: An Analysis

Everyone encounters a journey at some point in their life, whether it is to the grocery store or life itself. There are all sorts of journeys and they occur for many reasons. Yet journeys can have many outcomes unforeseen by the journeyer. Often people change, usually for the better, along the journey they have taken. They learn how to overcome obstacles. They meet other people. They become more aware of the world around them. Many journeys are sparked by something in a person’s life, as in challenges or limitations in a society. This is how the journey of two native american women abandoned by their tribe in the harsh Alaskan wilderness started. Their need to survive powered them to continue their journey in a novel called Two Old Women by Velma Wallis. Others are longer and might not seem like a journey at all. Such as the life story of three generations of Southern women in Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons. Despite the difference of these novels, these two stories share a common theme: strong women on a journey. Journeys can vary in how they appear and how they influence the character, however in the cases of Charms for the Easy Life and Two Old Women, the characters show their strength, prove to themselves, and to
They too are abandoned by people in their life. The first one to leave is Charlie Kate’s husband. Margaret, her granddaughter tells the story, “How did my grandmother react when her husband let his supper go cold? … Nobody would note the breadth of her pride. Well, nobody except my mother, who watched and learned. This is what she learned: A man will leave you”(13-14, Gibbons). This was the kickstart of their journey, because as it is the moment where Charlie Kate had to keep her life going even through her husband walked out. Her husband was a support pillar for her, but once he leaves it is taken away.