#5: A mother's love
It's the cliché: a mother's love is eternal. Many of us tend to take that love for granted, since it happens to just be there. But what happens when that love is ripped away? Forever?
This affair is one of the main conflicts of the novel The Leavers. Main character, Deming, shows his concern after the disappearance of his mother, Polly. Every time Deming attempts to find his mom, he is met with rejection from his family members. This loss is shown to scar Deming so much, that 10 years in the future, Deming (now Daniel) suffers from gambling and alcohol problems. Though the root cause of these addictions isn't explicitly stated, my take blames this on the separation of Polly and Deming. We are able to see Deming slowly spiral into insanity in the form of nonstop gambling, hoping something would come of it.
Deming's case highlights the love a parent can give their child - and the trauma it can cause if it is ripped at the seams. So far, reading this novel has really made me wonder "what would happen if I lost my mother?". Not only has this made me respect others who may not have healthy love from parents, but it has also made me respect my own mother so much more.
Great post, Vidhi! I absolutely loved how you introduced your topic, no matter how cliché it is. Reading your post made me think about something I learned in AP Psychology. I learned that one lens of psychology is called psychoanalytic, which means that people that use this lens believe that any problems we have today are influenced by some repressed childhood events. This can probably be applied to Deming as when looking at his life through a psychoanalytic lens, it can be concluded that root of his gambling and alcohol problems are due to his trauma with losing his mother as a child.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that losing parents can be traumatic, and that can have effects on a child's development. Our parents are the first people we develop connections to, and give us the love and affection that children need to develop, so it's no stretch to assume that losing them is difficult, especially if their fate is unknown, as it leaves the children no closure and constantly wondering about their parent. I don't know what happens in this book, but I hope that the parent and child have a chance to reunite.
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