Ask yourself a question about the text

 While reading this last section of God Don't Like Ugly, by Mary Monroe, I began to ask myself a few questions about the text. One being, after all that Annette has been through, how is she able to progress and be so smart as a person, so well? After having so many memories in her life time, from her father leaving her, moving from shacks, apartments, basements, and houses, to being sexually assaulted daily, it is crazy how much Annette can remember from such a young age. Being older then I, it amazes me how she can remember things at the age of three. She says, "I remember a lot that happened when I was three and four years old. All that walking to get to your work, my squirrel with the white paw, that old woman that hit you with her cane, that tornado, and most of all, those dreadful clodhoppers we found in the trash can that you made me wear... I remember my daddy. He left the morning after that tornado with a white woman in a green car"(256). Although some of the things Annette remembers are vague and small, it still amazes me that she can remember these things considering how young she was. It also saddens me knowing the fact that if she is able to remember these things, then further down the line, she will always remember the horrific events in detail that her life has consisted of. Rape, murder, and prostitution is recently all she has known, so the fact that she is able to remember a squirrel she had at the age of three, is somewhat sad considering other things she will remember later on in life. Another example of Annette showing her progressing smarts is when she has left for Viginia and is residing in a motel that she has been staying at for a couple of weeks. After being asked many times by other tenants in the motel to babysit their children, and refusing, Annette says, "As bad as I wanted and needed friends, I promised myself I would avoid anybody I thought was out to take advantage of me"(274). After saying this, it also surprises me at how much Annette is now sticking up for herself. It shows how she has gained self-respect and that she refuses to be taken advantage of any more

Another question I had about the text, was how can Annette mother go from acting as though she cares so much about Annette and wants her to stay home so badly, but never answers or returns the phone calls Annette makes to her. Whether it goes to the answering machine, or it is Mr. King answering, it  seems strange to me how distant Mrs. Goode has become since Annette has left. She explains, "Once again I called up Muh'Dear and just as I expected, she was out" (272). Although it was only one phone call of the many she has made, it confuses me to see Annette struggle in such a big city by herself, and her mother not be there just to talk to her on the phone once in a while. Being aware of the fact that Annette has struggled by herself her whole life, her mother's ignorance not only irritates me, it amazes me. In conclusion, after reading the last section of God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe, I had many questions about the text but two specifically about Annette progressing as a smart individual, and another about Mrs. Goode's ignorance.