My World Lit students wrote memoirs, inspired by Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club. Each wrote one story about an adult influencing them, and one story about a key moment in that adult's life. I'm posting excerpts from a few of my favorites.
This student's mom left her family to move to Cambodia, desperate to find a better job and offer her girls a good education. It was a stab in the dark. The story is told from the mom's perspective.
“It was a couple of days later and I was sitting in the office of the interviewer, a charming British man with a welcoming smile. [...] At one point, he did not reply and an awkward silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity.
‘You’re hired,’ he said with a big smile.
The relief that crashed over me at that moment almost brought me to tears. I stood up, thanked him, and shook his hand, trying to be professional, but inside, I was on the verge of screaming in celebration.
As soon as the door clicked closed, I threw my hands in the air, dancing a victory dance on the spot. After twenty-eight long days of waiting and refusing to give up, I was finally employed, and in a job that would pay me more in forty-five days than what I would normally earn in two years back in the Philippines.
Hands still shaking, I picked up my cell phone and dialed home. Looks like all the sweat and tears had finally paid off.”
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