Cora Tyler Young, better known as “Cutie”, is struggling. She has been struggling and stubborn for a long time. At eighty-four, simple tasks take immense amounts of effort and she needs help. As stubborn as she is, help doesn’t come easy. Especially not from her closest relatives– her son and his wife– who don’t seem to want anything to do with her.
She is stuck in her ways and relies heavily on Loretta– her nurse. Loretta and Cutie’s relationship is an intricate back in forth of like and tolerance. They are both stuck at a crossroads in life where they’re trying to get by, set in their ways, and attempting to handle the intersectionality of womanhood and their current society. Though, it is through very different lenses.
Cutie, an elderly and wealthy white woman, evokes strong feelings with whomever she interacts–including Loretta. She often spouts prejudiced statements, acts rude when she is grateful and has an overall air of “better than”. While Loretta, in trying to get by, deals with it. She is always respectful and tolerant.
On election day, where Cutie is taken to vote, Loretta puts in her month’s notice. She is leaving and it frightens Cutie. Sends her straight into a tailspin of self-reflection. Whether young or old, Cutie admits to herself that she has always been this way; ” she has been delicate in her moods her whole life.(Boggs,174)”
She is reflective of the years that have passed, of her behavior, and her life’s outcome. She does not recognize what she has become. She is not satisfied. She seems to wonder what life would be like had she chosen and behaved differently. In a way, she is ready for change, and yet, she continues to see herself as waiting for it to happen to her.