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Character Analysis Of Lisa In Eden Robinson's Short Story 'Traplines'

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Often times, the adversities one may face help us shape who we are. This is apparent through the main character Lisa in the Eden Robinson’s short story ‘Dogs In Winter,’ within the novel Traplines. Lisa’s heartbreaking childhood and her perception of her own mother causes her to be susceptible to domineering thoughts and beliefs about herself and those around her. This essay will demonstrate how certain dominating relationships can play a key role on one’s self belief and identity, while personal struggles can be the foundation of one’s identity. This idea, also known as identitarianism, can be defined as the basis of one’s identity and can give an insight into an individuals roots, explaining why they are the way they are. Ones personal …show more content…

Furthermore, Lisa’s introvert-like personality by her inability to connect with many people for she comes from a childhood full of adversity and unstable personal relationships. She feels that no one will understand her struggle or immediately think of her as “weird” or too dysfunctional which is proven when she states her fear of coming clean to her foster parents, “I didn’t want to say anything to them about Mama. If I did, they might send be back like a defective toaster.” (42). Her comparison of herself to a broken piece of equipment reflects her feeling of being valueless and a damaged person; moreover, her fear of having her foster parents, Paul and Janet, reject her immediately once they hear her story is epitomized by Lisa as she thinks people see her as an object that needs to be returned if found to be faulty. Lisa seems to be filled with regret, confusion, and despair as she tries to understand her life and identity. In her eyes, she had suffered a childhood that is not typical nor common, causing her to feel like an outsider in society with the other “normal” people as she states in the following quote about her foster parents, “I couldn’t get over how perfect they looked, how normal they seemed.” (42) This epitomizes her feelings of bewilderment on what a normal life looks to her and how this idea is so new to her due to the fact that for most of her life she has lived in solitary not being exposed that much to the real outside world. The first person Lisa has seemed to really connect with and be able to let herself become close with is her school friend Amanda. Coincidentally, the two girls had bonded over Lisa seeing Amanda’s arm scars from her own attempts of suicide, “...I saw the scars on her wrists. When she had noticed me staring, she pulled her sleeve down to cover them.” (55) Amanda is quick to give an excuse that she

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