“People will talk. Let them talk. I can bear it. I am a Beede so I can bear the people talking…. I guess what Billy do or don’t do, or what she get or don’t get, is no more than just part of the plan” (51). So reflects Roosevelt Beede, accepting the decisions of his willful, pregnant, unmarried niece, Billy. Roosevelt’s stiff lipped, resigned response to his family’s luck is typical of the characters in Susan Lori Park’s novel. Throughout ‘Getting Mother’s Body’ the poor, Texan family comments on what it means to be a Beede, as they travel to Arizona to retrieve the remains of Billy’s mother and the jewels supposedly buried with her.

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Getting Out of Shadow

            Orally, when people say we are so much like our parents, we may argue, but we usually do not deny that we are influenced by our parents. Animals brought up by their parents share many similarities with their parents when they are hunting, playing, and fighting etc. Same as human. The gesture we holding chopsticks, the way we folding socks, and the style of speaking are more or less passed down from our parents.

While I have been reading Ruth Ozeki’s novel All Over Creation, I’ve been thinking about maternity and parenting. This theme, which carries over from Getting Mother’s body, emerges through many of Ozeki’s characters. Yumi leaves home because she feels like her parents, Lloyd and Momoko, do not understand her lifestyles. As a result, she lives most of her life without the roles of parents in her life. The way in which Yumi parents her own kids has many dynamics as well. She doesn’t seem to show a lot of love, and Cass’s character to contrast this. Although she and Will have been unable to have kids of their own, Cass is the most loving toward Yumi’s children, especially Poo.

Some people receive their characteristics from genetics, but their identity could also come from other places. A person’s identity can from their family, because usually they are the ones who influence their beliefs and values. Then their beliefs and values usually determine how they are as a person. There are people who do not want to be like the rest of their family, and diverge to create their own identity. In Susan-Lori Parks novel, Getting Mother’s Body, the town expects Billy to turn out just like her family specifically her mother, but she proves them wrong. Similarly, Yumi in All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki, goes against what that her parents expected her to have.