The First Day by Edward P. Jones

The First Day of School

• The narrator, a five-year-old girl, is on her way to her first day of school with her mother on a September morning.
• She is wearing a new blue-and-green dress, with braided hair and decorated with blue barrettes.
• Her mother has dabbed a small amount of gardenia perfume behind her ears, which was a gift from her father before he disappeared.

Walk to School

• The sidewalks are filled with children, but the narrator doesn't see any of her friends.
• They walk past several streets (New York Avenue, Pierce Street, L and K Streets) and arrive at Seaton Elementary School.
• The school is across the street from the narrator's mother's church, Mt. Carmel Baptist.

Seaton Elementary School

• The narrator and her mother are greeted by a woman who seems to know her, but they are told they are at the wrong school.
• The woman explains that they live beyond the area served by Seaton, and they should be at Walker-Jones instead.
• The narrator's mother insists that she wants her daughter to attend Seaton, but they eventually leave.

Walker-Jones School

• The narrator and her mother arrive at Walker-Jones, a larger and newer school.
• They enter a crowded auditorium where children and adults are registering for school.
• The narrator is afraid, seeing the mess and chaos around her.

Registration Process

• The narrator's mother asks for help filling out a registration form, revealing that she cannot read or write.
• A woman helps them, taking the form and filling it out for them.
• The narrator's mother presents various documents, including her birth certificate, baptismal record, and marriage license, to support her daughter's right to attend school.

Meeting the Teacher

• The narrator and her mother meet the teacher, who introduces herself and takes the narrator's registration form.
• The narrator's mother gives her fifty cents, and the teacher accepts it without hesitation.
• The teacher tells the narrator's mother to pick her up at 12 o'clock, and the narrator is left to start her first day of school.

This passage from The First Day by Edward P. Jones describes the narrator's first day of school, accompanied by their mother. The vivid description of the narrator's dress and hairdo sets the tone for a nostalgic and intimate story.