Shortly after the memoir begins, Jeannette tells the tale of her dysfunctional childhood and slowly introduces her family as the main characters of her early life. Walls mother, Rose Mary, enters the novel as artistic, energetic, carefree, raising her children based upon common sense and tough love. As the storyline advances, and the Walls family is uprooted from home to home, Rose Mary looses hope with each “adventure”, so she calls it. On the exterior, she seems to be as determined as ever, carrying optimism with her wherever the family relocates, while on the inside, she is quickly deteriorating, loosing the affection and selflessness she once showed toward her children. By the time the Walls arrive in Welch, West Virginia, Rose Mary, is vehemently focusing on her art career.
A shift in tone is established when the family settles in Welch because Mrs. Walls alters her once nurturing aura to that of annoyance and self pity most notably when some mornings she “would refuse to get out of bed” (Walls 207). After a hectic summer in Welch, Rose Mary returns from a teacher’s training camp and announces that, “’It’s time [she] started living [her] life for [her]’” (Walls 218). This cements her emotional detachment from her husband and children, to the point of no return. Rose Mary’s tone in the novel from that moment on is harsh and dismal which ignites a fire in the Walls children to become something better than what their mom has modeled for them. As for Mrs. Wall’s diction, one can easily decipher her rapid approach to depression through her terse, whiney, and demanding language. For the reader, the image of Rose Mary Walls begins as a woman with compassion and determination, although ends with selfishness and instability.
Throughout the novel it seems as though Rose Mary Walls begins as a strong hearted women, however, as time goes on her depressive nature and insecurities shine through. It was tragic to witness Rose Mary dwindle as she allowed the tragedies surrounding her overwhelm her and invade her heart. It causes some to wonder if her strength was merely covering up her weakness of change and disorder. Rose Mary hides behind a wall of "strength" to deter people from seeing her depression. She slowly gets tougher in her diction so that people may turn the other cheek and see here as merely mad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Rose Mary Walls was introduced as a strong powerful women but by the end of the novel she is a weak and unstable. However, when reading this novel, readers should put themselves in her shoes. She married a man full of promise and hope, and she had aspirations for a wonderful life, just happy to get away from her controlling mother. Then, to her disappointment, she witness her life fall apart, as Rex turn away from her and turns to alcohol. Rex consistently breaks promises after promises, which in turn, breaks her heart. Rose Mary is not strong enough to leave him since she has had someone control her life her whole life. She feels hopeless for she knows there is nothing that she is physically or mentally capable of doing. If I were Rose Mary in that situation, I would loose strength and moral too. Rose Mary had a reason for her instability. It is not till they move to New York that Rose Mary finally accepts reality and becomes more stable.
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