Furthermore, Olsen leveraged other elements of conflict throughout the story to add to the depth of the characters and the relatability of their plight. In addition to the Mother’s early inner conflicts of leaving Emily with the babysitter and evil teacher, she also had to grapple with sending Emily away on two separate occasions at particularly challenging times. Sending Emily to her in-laws as an infant and admitting Emily to a convalescent home after giving birth to another child, were two of several events that fueled the Mother’s inner conflict and turmoil. Moreover, I can only imagine how the Mother’s heart dropped, when Emily cried out from the balcony of the convalescent home, “they don’t want you to love anybody here” and she was unable to reach out and hold her heart broken child (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, pg.220). Thus, the Mother’s ultimate …show more content…
The Mother provides several indicators of Emily’s inner turmoil, beginning with describing Emily as homely and slow in a world that prized glibness. Therefore, Emily begged her Mother incessantly to reassure her “she had been---and would be” beautiful (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, pg.218). Moreover, her Mother describes Emily as dark, thin, and “foreign-looking in a world” that required the quintessential American beauty to have curly blonde hair and dimpled cheeks (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, pg.224). Finally, as Emily escaped her shell of anonymity and won a high school talent contest, her Mother lamented, Emily was “as imprisoned in her difference as she had been in anonymity” (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012, pg.223). Nevertheless, the Mother eventually acknowledged Emily had enough fortitude of spirit and strength of will to live a long life, despite the liklihood of never resolving inner conflict and fully blossoming as a