The Effect Of Migration On Children In Country Of The One Eye God And Bright Thursdays By Olive Senor
In Olive Senor’s, short stories ‘Country of The One Eye God’, and ‘Bright Thursdays’, the issue of migration, how it can lead to parental abandonment and also how it can adversely affect children and their identity is explored. This is portrayed in “Country of The One Eye God’, where the main character’s response to being abandoned by his parents due to migration is to resort to a life of harsh rebellion.
In ‘Bright Thursdays’, the subject remains determined to establish a relationship with her father, despite the ideals thrust upon her by her surrogate family. Both short stories examine, using symbolism and irony, the effects of migration on children, focusing on cases where parental abandonment can result in children experiencing mistreatment with surrogate parents. They differ in their approaches to the different parenting styles that can be guided by religious teachings or grooming tendencies common to societal norms, and the responses to relationships experienced by both children where some remain determined to establish and maintain a family relationship, while others refuse to maintain these ties.
The issue of migration is explored in both short stories, focus being placed on situations where children are subject to abuse at the hands of their surrogate parents. This is highlighted in Country of The One Eye God, where Jacko mentions not wanting to go to prison, because ‘Me hear enough talk and get enough battering from you when I small’. This references both the physical and emotional abuse that Jacko received at the hand of his grandmother, his surrogate parent throughout childhood. This idea is also expressed o, ‘A would a like to see you bawl for once …. How to drop lick and chastisement. ’ This line speaks to the physically abusive relationship experienced by Jacko from his grandmother.
Similarly, in ‘Bright Thursdays’, Laura suffers emotionally at the hand of her grandparents. This is expressed through the use of symbols such as the table in the home, and the landscape. The landscape reinforces Laura’s feelings of being unwelcome. Both are symbols used to reference Laura’s discomfort in the home, as evident in the following lines, ‘For how else could she explain this discomfort, … sitting at a table and eating a meal. It is also evident in the following paragraph, ‘…, when she polished the mahogany she placed each of he children of the household at a place around this table, … there was now no place left for her. ’ These digs at Laura’s emotional well being also have an adverse effect on her identity as a person, resulting in her resenting her own features, which is evident in the following line, ‘Faced with such perfection, she ceased to look at herself in the mirror’.
