Parents face the biggest challenge when their children commit crimes. The disgrace and the embarrassment can be overbearing and these parents do things that others would criticize. Barbara Neely’s “Spilled Salt” shows the conflicting emotions that Myrna faces and the harsh decisions she takes during and after her son returns from prison after four years. But, the choices that Myrna makes could not have been easy because she notes: “She hadn’t stopped loving him” (p.61) even after he confesses to rape. Myrna makes two choices regarding her son, Kenny that I do not agree with: the first poor choice Myrna makes is when she tells the neighbors that she does not have any children. The second poor decision that she makes that I do not agree with is when she writes the short note and she asks that Kenny leave the house before she returns.
I disagree with the choices that she makes because families are bound by the bonds of trust, understanding and forgiveness. Of course, everyone makes mistakes even if the mistake is one that defies the rules of the society. Kenny’s reasons for raping the girl are not clear as he lied about the episode at first. Understandably, Myrna cannot accept his actions and his lies to her neighbors about having a child. She does this because she wishes that she could erase the events of that particular day. It is hard to agree with Myna’s choice because she does not allow her friends to decide whether they think that Kenny’s situation is really bad. In addition, Myrna seems to be selfish and I believe that this makes her decision wrong.
I do not agree with the second decision that Myrna because she does not try understand that Kenny is older and matured. She makes the decision to ask him to leave her house. She does not try to understand if he had changed his attitude after being in prison. Kenny shows his love and compassion for his mother as he makes her coffee and offers to help to ease the headache that she fabricates. But, Myrna is unreasonable in her actions because she does not give Kenny a fair chance to prove that he has changed. I do not agree with the way she pretends that she does not have a son and how she wishes that he would disappear. Clearly, Myrna has no respect for the bonds of family even though she repeats: “He is my son” (Neely 59). Instead she tells him to leave her house. Also, she is a hypocrite because she continues to hold on to the crucifix as a sign of her religious beliefs but she does nothing to honor the Bible’s lessons on forgiveness and loving her family.
In concluding, Myrna’s actions are not acceptable, because parents should be able to forgive their children when they are wrong. Of course, Myrna feels some amount of remorse and will blame herself because of the abuse that Kenny witnessed as a child. But, I believe that she could have spent more time trying to understand her son instead of making emotional decisions. The lack of communication in their relationship contributes to the choices Myrna makes, but as the older person in the relationship and as the mother, Myrna could have made more effort to be more understanding of Kenny’s situation and honor the bonds of family.
References
Neely, Barbara “Spilled Salt” In Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African –
American Fiction, (1990) Penguin Books, Web, 20 Feb 2016 <peopleandstories.files.wordpress.com>
