Out of strength comes weakness and from weakness comes strength. It’s an amazing paradox that can be seen in the relationship between Lydia and Treasure. Lydia would do anything to help provide Treasure with a better life. Treasure is her strength to stay away from Lloyd. In addition, she is Lydia’s driving force to complete a college degree. However, when it comes to trying to provide Treasure with strength, it is here that Lydia shows her weakness. Lydia wants Treasure to have a father who will be there for her and give Treasure the love only a father can share. Because of this, Lydia allows Lloyd into their lives. She sees Lloyd’s temperament reflected in Treasure’s behavior and eventually pays the price for giving in when “Treasure jump[s] up and lunge[s] at her mother” (355). It is in this brutal scene that we see the deep-seated hatred that is brewing inside of Treasure. Lydia must make a choice. She is weak and broken-hearted and decides to let Treasure go. Lydia realizes that “Treasure [needs] to taste the ripeness of life; she need[s] to learn life’s lessons, even if it [leaves] a dent in her” (363). After tasting another lifestyle with her father, Treasure does learn these lessons and returns to Lydia. In the end, this period of weakness allowed them both to make decisions that helped return them both back to a state of strength.
As a mother, these passages spoke to me because I sometimes struggle with letting my daughter figure things out for herself or deciding her every move. I related to Lydia’s desire to help Treasure be all that she was created to be and the sadness when Treasure literally “spit in her face” (355). Although my daughter and I don’t go to the extremes told in the story, we have our moments. And I pray, just like Lydia did, that our struggles will lead to a better life for my daughter.
Work CitedMarlow, L.Y..
Color Me Butterfly. Maryland: éL publishing, 2007.
Print.
You have chosen to talk about Lydia's and treasures relationship. You explained this part of the story as if it were personal to you. It was very well written. I thank God that I have never has to go through this with my daughters although we did have our dificulties they were never that extreme.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the paradox that in th weak we find strength, and in the strong we find weakness. I know this to be true. This is an issue we all wreastle with. Many great people are seen as strong and infallible. Sometimes we see them as super humans. When we see peope in this light, we are shocked when we find out that they have surcomed to their weakness. This was a very interesting subject.
Many mother daughter situations are not always as extreme as Lydias and Treasures, like you previously stated. However, from a daughter's prospective you cannot shelter your children too much or it will be more difficult for them in the future when experiencing with real life situations. I have always been sheltered my entire life and when I first moved out on my own I did not know what to do. I called my mom every five seconds asking her either how to cook or just to complain how difficult things were. This is why it is good that Lydia let Treasure make her own decision about her father. If my mother had raised me more independent then I would most likley not be calling her with fifty million life questions everyday!
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