Niya Williams         711     “Building Bridges” by Andrea Pinkney

           Letting go of your child or grandchild, and letting them grow up is one of the hardest things any parent or guardian will do in their life. Knowing that when they are gone they are learning how to live without you.

In the beginning of the passage we see the main character Bebe ask her grandmother to sign the permission slip allowing her to join a youth renovation team, a group of kids that had been chosen by city officials to work with a squad of contract engineers to help repair the Brooklyn bridge. Bebe wanted to take part in this activity over the summer because it paid good money and would help her get to college where she wanted to study engineering. When Bebe asks Mama Lil to sign her permission slip, Mama Lil says “I ain’t gonna be the one who allows you to take part in such foolishness”. This shows that Mama Lil thinks that getting a job as a engineer for Bebe is foolishness, and not worth her time.  Mama Lil also says “Bebe get that backward idea out of your head” showing she thought the job wasn’t a good idea. Both details from the text show that Mama Lil thinks that the job is a terrible idea, and there is no way she was going to sign it allowing Bebe to take part in engineering.

          In order for Bebe to stay and not want the engineering job, Mama Lil takes it upon herself to get Bebe a job fit for a girl her age. She got her a job at Rimley’s Beauty Parlor. This s a big part of the text because we see Mama Lil try to take Bebe’s mind off engineering by replacing it with working in a beauty shop around where they live. You can see right here that she doesn’t want Bebe to go.

          At the end of the passage we see a huge character change with Mama Lil towards Bebe. Without saying she doesn’t want to sign the permission slip Mama Lil talks more in depth onto why she can’t. On page 29 in “Building Bridges”, Mama Lil tells Bebe “Your dreams are the kind that’ll take you away from here, Bebe away from your Mama Lil. You got big hopes, child, but they gonna leave me alone, by myself”. This is the most important part of the passage because we see Mama Lil go from just saying plain old no to Bebe, to finally sharing her feeling on how she would feel if Bebe were to leave her.  If Bebe were to go and become an engineer Mama Lil feels like she might leave for good. She might finally know what she wants in life and leave Mama Lil at home alone. Mama Lil adds on to what she was saying, by stating, “That’s an upsetting truth, Bebe. It makes my heart hurt every time I think on it.” Not only does this show how hard it is for parents to leave their child, but it shows what they go through thinking that one day their child is going to grow up and have dreams of their own that they want to follow, and they will slowly drift away. Mama Lil has some to the realization that nothing last forever and she is going to have to let Bebe free.

           For most of my life I have lived with my own grandparents and I know how Bebe feels. Sometimes when I ask to do things it takes them days to think about it. They see me gaining an independence that will slowly drag me away from their hands into adulthood. Mama Lil takes her time with her choices and Pinkney shows it. Mama Lil is scared for Bebe, and scared for herself. You can see in the last pages of the passage she explains to Bebe how hard it is to see her dreams take her away and leave Mama Lil.