Custom «Greg Williams» Essay Paper Sample

Introduction

Greg Williams was born in 1855 in Texas. His birth was on 31^st January. He was born to a white mother and a black father. He was brought up in Virginia until the age of ten. During his tenth year, his mother left them, subjecting them under the care of their father. After this had happened, their father took them to Munice in Indiana. This was in 1954 and later his father became a heavy drunkard hence giving no care to the two little boys. William was together with his younger brother Mike. Their fathers businesses collapsed due to excessive liquor consumption, heavy debts and also torment by personal demons (Williams11). This led to Ms. Dora taking the two boys and gave them the care they needed. Their black grandmother had no rooms to accommodate them and so she could not take them. Miss Dora, who was a poor black widow and a strong Christian with a kind heart, took the two boys to her home. During his youth life, William underwent through a life full of pain, triumph and struggling. Greg recalls the whole kind of miserable life whereby they learnt hustling from their own father, taken care by their mothers, friend and how he faced racism from his classmates and teachers in the school he went to (Williams112).

The entire Greg's life would have ended up collapsing to a miserable and hopeless kind of life. Their mother stepped out without even considering the future life of her own sons. He left them to be brought up by a heavy drunkard who also was their father. Contrary to the paternal care the two boys expected from their father, they received negligence instead (Williams110). Under the great care of Miss Dora, the two boys went to school were they received education. Miss Dora also was responsible of  the food the two brothers ate, the clothes they wore and the shelter to rest their heads in. though Miss Dora's' salary was as little as twenty five dollars a week, he worked so hard  in ensuring that the two boys accessed their basic needs.  Besides Miss Dora, the two boys had no one else to turn to during times of distress and negligence. She was the father and the mother of the two (Williams 230).

With their evading his parental duties, he spent his money with women and in drinking. Though their aunt had offered to adopt them, her husband said that he could not afford feeding the two boys.  The two boys could have ended up becoming street boys if Miss Dona had not intervened in their lives. No one from their family seems to care about them even their white grandmother who lives near them. The only time the grandmother talks to the boys are when they accidentally met in town. Lacking shelter, food and good care would have finally led the boys to the streets. If it were not for Miss Donna, the lives of these boys would have become miserable a long time ago (Williams 201).

The two boys appear to be white. Despite this, the whites label them as blacks. On the other hand, the blacks think that the two are whites.  All sorts of names land on them in the town. In addition, their own father uses names to address them also. He refers Greg as white and Mike as an "N-word" who will lead a life similar to his fathers'. Their black relatives shunned them too. They even denied them food. Greg and his young brother were saved from Orphanage life by Miss Dora Weekly Smith who took them to live with her. The compassion in Miss Dora played a great task in saving lives of two poor and neglected boys. Racism was severely exercised towards Greg. He recalls one time when he was denied an academic achievement award for the reason that such awards could not be offered to black students. This went on from middle school and in high school also. As if this was not enough for him, he was not congratulated by anyone when he married a dark skinned girl who was also black (Williams 338).

Greg grew up under Miss Dora's care until he was grown up and became a professor. Ten years after their mother had left them; she comes back and invites Greg and his brother to accompany her together with her new husband.  William recalls how their mother came to Munice and did not bother to pass by them. He swears never to forgive her for this. Greg and his brother rejected her request since they considered her as a non-caring mother. Greg considered their entire life to have been on the wrong side of the collar line (Williams 338).  Generally, the entire life of Greg and his brother Mike were saved by Miss Dora.

Conclusion

Greg compared his life with being on a collar line whereby one day he is white and the next day he discovers that h was a black. He was forced by conditions to move to Indiana where his father's relatives lived after their mother had abandoned them. They undergo harsh times until when a poor Christian widow takes them in to live with her (Williams 253).  Miss Dora, who is the poor widow, struggles to her best to ensure that the two get food and shelter among other basic needs. While bringing them up, he encourages Greg concerning various issues in life. He plays the role of a father and a mother to the two children. If there was no one to take good care of Greg and his younger brother, they would have become street boys or either orphan kind of life. It is Miss Dora who ensures that Greg gets education by taking him to school. Though they had their father near them, their wellbeing was another persons' concern. To sum up, Miss Dora was the greatest savior of Greg's life (Williams 418).