Blog Post 11

1/19/15                         

Elaine has finally been released from the Bedford Hills prison. She is so excited, crying

tears of joy for the first time in over fifteen years. She is so optimistic heading home on

the Saw Mill River Parkway toward the city. It’s really a heartwarming twist to the past

chapters, although still sad. The outside life that Elaine has been waiting 16 years for

turned into a sad reality after a couple weeks, when she realized that they have no

money, almost no jobs in the family, and that there is a wave of depression and

hopelessness hanging over them. Her daughters, especially Danae have not fully

warmed to her. Danae still refuses to stay at the house some nights. I understand the

perspective of the young daughters who were never of age to remember Elaine being

there for them. And there have definitely been times where I was upset with Elaine for

not being there for them. I then have to remember that Elaine shouldn’t be in prison,

that she was set up. This fact easily slips my mind sometimes because everything her

family is going through. It’s a complicated situation. It’s just disappointing that Elaine

feels that she left prison to return home to another prison between her deteriorating

apartment and visiting Jamel at Rikers Island. George Lino seems to be the one light of

hope shining over Elaine’s disappointing return to the outside. He makes a great pitch of

Elaine to potential employers, but she is still having trouble finding work. I’m hoping

Elaine finds a job and works everything out with her family. I had a strong emotional

response to this section

It’s sad that the only hope Elaine has is outside her family, with George Lino and later in the chapter Lora Tucker. Elaine is so lost. She returns to her family expecting much better. The apartment is filthy, there is no order, and the common theme of overpopulation that many of the self-sustainable Bartlett siblings have to deal with. Elaine had this image in prison of her returning home and putting everything back in order and setting up the next generation of Bartlett’s for success. Seeing that Satara has already had children at eighteen and is contributing to the overpopulation, and that Danae won’t even spend he nights in 13B, this image was unrealistic. Elaine has her work cut out for her. It’s sad, I would be just as discouraged as Elaine.