Response to Everything That Rises Must Converge

This piece really touched me. The characters- both the mother and son, that is-
caused me to feel genuinely torn between being irritated and angry with their short-sightedness on the one hand, and on the other hand sympathetic to the insecurities of their flaws. I agree with what most of the other classmates are saying- the son seems unnecessarily angry, and he does seem to have a pedestal complex about his education. Not only this, but the sacrifices the mother has allegedly made on behalf of her son are to be commended. I understand that her ignorance, intolerance, snobbery, and resistance to change are all negative qualities- and surely character traits which I take very personally- however, the author seems to have created this mother figure in a what I must critique as a cliche character type. She is domineering and bossy and manipulative and weak and judgmental and all of those annoying things which make the mother on "Everybody Loves Raymond" so absolutely irritating. Her having a heart attack or cardiac arrest or stroke or whatever is implied in the story does not entirely make up for her character flaws, in my opinion (though the ending did make me pause and feel a little remorseful for her fate).