Keeping Close to Home

In this essay, Keeping Close to Home, the author, Gloria Watkins, tries to look back at her growing path to find out what influences her values and identity. Most of the sources are conflicting. The first paradox came from her experience attending college in the city. For a girl growing up in a small town, this kept her a far distance, both mental and physical, from her home as a result of moving away from her family. The most direct impact on her is her parent’s ambivalence toward college education. Although they supported her educational endeavors, they were skeptical and confusing about what college education might do to their child, just like what most parents of working-class folks will worry about. This kid of contradictory emotion made her feel confused.
Furthermore, a similar ambivalence also appeared when Watkin’s parents thought of the impact of reading on her. They ensured she had access to books, but in at the same time, they thought if she read too much, it would drive her insane. Their inconsistent attitude had took years for her not to learn, and it took her couple of years to understand why her parents thought in this way. Because for such socioeconomic status family, having a child who was changing her class experience and background was hard to get used to in the first time. That is why she felt away from her family mentally. But literally, the attitude of Watkin’s parents did teach her a lot of in this process, such as learning to value various skills and talents of folks not exposed to professional knowledge like her. She also struggled to maintain the relationships with her parents via relating and sharing thoughts and experiences they all have in common. These above contradictions and the ways she overcame them had formed Watkin’s personality to some extent.
According to Watkin’s opinion, the idea that most of us are mixtures of values and contradictions coming from our parents, is obviously true for most people. I think most of us are