“Night Women” written by Edwidge Danticat, is a touching story about a single mother who deeply loves and cares for her young son. The two live in extremely poor conditions and are victims of a parent who abandoned them (the father). The mother who only takes care of the child, recurred to sleep with different man at night to provide for a living because where they live-in there are no jobs available. She however despites what she does and sees herself less of a person. Her only happiness and push in life is her young boy. In any case, “Night Women” is a great story that resembles contrasting actions that a mother do during the day and during the night, serving as a great example of binary opposites. During the day the mother prevents her son from growing, she would tell him stories for everything that may affect her son, keeping him away from reality: “I will tell him that his father has come, that an angel brought him back from Heaven from a while” (Danticat 198). The mother would tell the boy that his father descended from the skies for a while and then left again but, in reality he abandoned them a long time ago and never came back. The boy lives in a world of fantasy and believes what his mother tells him; “Mommy, have I missed the angels again?” (198), because every Sunday the boy wakes up with fate that he would finally meet his father. The mother overprotects the boy who perhaps have enough age to confront life’s obstacles –but she refuses to tell the boy; “I want him to forget that we live in a place where nothing last” (197), she does not trust in the reality they live-in. While at night, the mother anciently watches him grows; “I watch as he stretches from a little boy into the broom-size of a man” (196), and thinks about the boy's future; “He does not know that one day a woman like his mother may judge him by the whiteness of his teeth” (197), but nevertheless decides to talk about his reality. Therefore during the day, the mother keeps the boy young in mind or immature because she does not let him face life’s realities, while at night, the mother watches her son grow in physical sizes and longs for his future. Binary Opposites: Day mother/Night mother. Hi, Giovann. Interesting binary opposites and great choice on the story. I believe the author is not exactly trying to portray specifically a scenario of a kid raising poisonous snakes but to leave the reader a moral that one should strive to follow their passion no matter what it takes. Even if there can be many obstacles in life or it could be risky to achieve, one can solely find complete happiness if they live doing what they love. As the story begins, the boy is bitten multiple times by flowery branch snakes; “It culminated last year when we discovered that his right arm was covered with wounds” (645), however, despite that the boy was bitten by this poisonous snakes multiple times at a very young age (age when a person is more vulnerable to the snake’s venom) the kid seemed to be ok after. This can lead the reader to think that they are not real snakes but part of a symbolism: “They are in my belly. They don’t stay inside all the time, of course. They come out whenever I want them to. The little flowery snake is my favorite” (647). The kid himself on the story admits that the snakes can be imaginary and he can reach to them or see them whenever he wants to. Leading the reader to view the snakes not as a real reptile but a form of symbolization for obstacles in one’s future path when following their passion. I on the other side, can strongly relate with the story and believes that we all college students may as well. Whether it is time, money, personal life, etc., there will be obstacles in our path to overcome. All with the goal of in the future achieve a diploma and most likely work in what we love. Hi, Brandon I found “the Deal” to be a story very odd and irrelevant but impressively, you managed to get a literature analysis from it. I also agree with your statement about society and the lack of philanthropic actions that surrounds our modern society now days. The story itself attempts to illustrate a very natural and casual scenario, making the moment of the boys and the girl easy to relate. The tone and phrasing of the author may also aid the reader have flashbacks about their real life scenarios; similar to the one in the story, and reminisce about one’s life. However, is hard to feel or expect a change in society if the majority overwhelms the minority. I for instance am similar to you. I try to help and feel satisfaction in helping other. But also find myself guilty in several episodes when I have tried to get something out of a favor. I can easily recall moments while at work, doing a favor to a manager and then, asking if I could leave early or have the next day off.