Apart from the fact that Susy's mother would always have a new boyfriend/husband/lover, she sometimes paid more attention to them than her own health. Suzy had to witness her mother having a seizure, clean up the blood, and make sure Penelope was not exposed to it. Her mother would have spasms, and back pains, restricting her from following her motherly duties. The back pains begun a long time ago while she was in school and a boy in her class played a prank on her, by pulling the chair from under her. When she fell she fell on her tailbone, and injuring the disks in her tailbone. Now Susy is twelve, and her mother's open conversations of sex, drugs, and men slowly moved on to encouragement to have boyfriends, sex and take drugs. In fact, she let Susy sniff cocaine, bought her pornographic magazines, and assured Susy that what she was doing was normal, and perfectly fine. In this section of the story Susy moved into her friends house when she was in seventh grade, while her mother and Penelope went off to New Mexico. She said she preferred to live with them because they were way more responsible, and her mothers idea of moving to Mexico did not sound as fun to her. Because Susy was accustomed to being the eight year old mother, she felt a bit of relief because all she had to do at her friends house was be a kid, follow the rules and simply wash up before dinner. However after a while she felt lonely, though she no longer wanted that weight lifted off her shoulders. Instead Susy wanted to hear the questions her mother always asked her, and she misssed her sister. For that reason she went off to New Mexico to join her sister and mother. Sadly this did not end too well; Susy and her mother are now having problems. Daphne (Susy's mom) is becoming abusive, and argumentative towards her daughter. Susy ends up going to boarding school in Connecticut.
Quote: "When my mother was born, her father was famous"(Sonnenberg 42).
Reaction: The fact that Daphne was brought up in such a Hollywood life style angers me. How could it be that even though she met famous people, had such a brilliant father, and a high class childhood she still fell into the life of drugs, sex, and alcohol? I wonder if she ever thought her daughters deserve the same treatment, especially since they behaved way better than her;she had sex with half the famous people she met. If Daphne is so good at convincing people and getting what she wants, then why does not she strive to be a good role model to her daughters, and a successful woman in general. Is it that she does not want that type of future for her kids?
the famous people are often the ones for whom these temptations are most strong
ReplyDeletehow did the boarding school come about? That seems like a huge shift.