Thank You, Ma'm Essay

Alicia McCarthy

Period 1

Thank You, Ma’m

Have you ever gotten the urge to show someone trust? I believe that if someone gives you trust, you will want to give trust back. In Thank You, Ma’m Roger tries to snatch Mrs. Luella Washington Bates Jones’s purse and ends up in her house. She opens opportunities for him to run away but he doesn’t.

After Roger tries to steal Mrs. Luella’s purse she brings him to her house. Roger, at that point didn’t know what she was going to do with him. When they get there she makes him wash his dirty face and makes him dinner. While she makes the dinner she leaves the door open. “The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!” Roger knew that he could make a run for it but he wanted her to trust him.


While she makes the dinner she leaves him by himself with the door open and her purse on the couch. “In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.”That shows that Roger wanted to show her that she could trust him.

Mrs. Luella gave Roger trust so he wanted her to trust him. He did this by not running out the door with her purse. So if someone gives you trust, you will want to give trust back.