Narrative

“This is so boring,” the girl thought as she peeled yet another potato. “I’ve been standing in this kitchen all day.” The light shone on her golden hair as she struggled to focus on her current task and sadly peeled her eyes from the window in front of her. Nonetheless, she remained strategically placed in front of that glass outlet to the supposed “more exciting world.”
It was the same routine every day. She would wake up early every morning to the same schedule of helping make the meals and doing the household chores. And at the end of every day, the house would be clean, the laundry would be done, and she would serve dinner with tired eyes and a halfhearted smile as her only hope lay in the world beyond that kitchen window. Yet just one aberration from her typically obedient and subservient attitude would cause her family to question her devotion to them. Until today—today was going to be different. Today would be the day that this all would change.
When she was awoken this morning she knew that she was too exhausted and perhaps more importantly fed up. “I cannot handle this lifestyle anymore. I am sick and tired of waking up early only to face a never-ending day of cleaning and preparing meals. I won’t do it anymore. I need independence,” she said defiantly as she entered the kitchen. After a brief moment of silence, her mother quickly dashed any of her daughter’s dreams as she firmly explained that a woman’s place was to be in the kitchen and that her daughter would probably never experience true independence. Not knowing how to react, the young girl simply submissively walked over to her familiar spot in front of the window and began peeling potatoes.
So much for change. The girl had sadly realized that she would forever be devoted to her family simply because there were not any other options. Her eyes, now stripped of defiance, independence, and hope, focused back to the potato in her hand and never again so much as glanced at the now vanishing window of opportunity.