“We do not talk about the child inside of me, his future, my future, love, fear, betrayal, loneliness” (22).

    Meredith does not get the opportunity to be treated fairly. She is just looked at as a mistake, a

failure, and a whore. No one lets her talk or be seen. She needs to be hidden and she rots in her s

shame. She is never allowed to talk about the idea of her keeping her child. She is not allowed simple

privileges. She is like Rapunzel, kept away by her "mother". Her family has somehow decided that

her life has ended. That after this event her life will cease to exist. Her past will always be kept

hidden and she will never again feel like a good girl.
   
    Hall is describing her parents neglect in this one sentence. She was all alone before her Labor Day

sex on the beach and they have left her alone again. She is talking about her silence within her

relationship with her parents. She never had a voice because they were never around and now she

doesn't have a voice because they refuse to allow her one. She can never ask questions, talk about

how she is feeling, and especially acknowledge that she may want to see the life inside of her grow

up. She describes in one sentence, to me a jail sentence.

Don't Let Me Drown

“I am drifting in over my head and want my mother to grab me out of the tide” (6).

    Meredith has always been used to a structured life style. She was known as a good girl that when

told to do a task, she never asked any questions, never argued. She followed the rules and her mother

provided her with her undivided attention, until the summer of 1965. Her mother was not the same

stay at home mother of her youth. She had a marketing job and went out late with her boyfriend.

Meredith's mother pushed her to the back burner. Her actions seemed as though she was buying time

until Meredith left the house. Hall did everything in her power to gain her mother's attention.

Meredith wore skimpy bikini's, traveled with boys she had just meant, went to questionable parties,

and nearly never saw her mother. She turned into a rebel in order for her mother to notice her. Her

choices started to become more and more dangerous and Meredith got in to deep. All she wanted was

her mother to ask where she was going. Her mother's recklessness, damaged her. She became

someone she did not trust or recognize and there was no there to help her get out.
    
    I cannot imagine a life where my mother just pushed me off to the side. I truly believe that id my

mother had done this to me, I would have ended up just like Meredith. I am extremely close with my

mom and I loathe when she leaves me out of events or gives me the silent treatment. That breaks me,

Meredith did not even have a mother left. She was asking and wanting only for attention, to be

wanted. Meredith's mother destroyed the person that was her daughter and made her grow up to fast.

Everything Wrong-"Shunned" Response

“It didn’t last because my friend was a boy, a boy who knew how to fight back, a boy who believed that he could interrupt the current and draw his world back into order.  It didn’t work because he felt powerful, after all, worthy of those friends and their loyalty” (xii).

   At this time, women were inferior. They could not stand up for themselves the same way men could. They had to stand back in take it. Her friend was able to move past the fight and the friends that left him behind because he knew no one was going to judge him for his decisions. Women do not have these same luxuries. They have to abide by everyone else's rules. Hall expressed this in the 'shunning' of her main character. This story of her friend his the explanation of why she couldn't fight back, because she wasn't expected to. She is a woman and the job of a woman is to blend in and do what the are told. Do not cause damage to anything and obey.
    Hall expressed the inequality between genders. Hall's main character's father of her child, got off  free, but she had to suffer the consequences. Her pregnancy was her fault, she should have contained herself, she should not have seduced him. Hall expressed all that is wrong with this time period and situation in this one quote.

She's Only Human

Sarah has this jealousy towards her younger sister. Any opportunity she has to ridicule and embarrass Rachel, she takes the opportunity. This is all because of the attention that Rachel is given. Sarah is jealous of the relationship her parents have with Rachel because she wants the relationship. She wants to be treated the same way Rachel is treated. Her words were an accident. She was angry, Rachel was once again beating her. Even when she is being ridiculed, Rachel keeps her head high. Sarah wants to beat her sister. She never meant to turn her sister's world all the way around. She never meant to change the family dynamic. She was just angry. She was just being human and expressing her feelings. She regretted ever uttering the words "...you dirty leper" (Brennert 36). She never meant to. She was shocked at herself. None of what she said was planned or intentional. This is why is chose to draw this symbol for Sarah. The 'S' is to represent her name. The line down the middle is to represent her two different sides, the angry side and the ashamed side. When Sarah is angry, she is uncontrollable, like a large fire. Afterwards, she was fragile and still uncontrollable. The 'S' has tears coming out from the top because she was in some much shock, that the tears represent her loosened hold on the situation. Sarah may have said what she did in anger, but that's all it was anger. She never expected to feel the sadness of her words as well.

Found Poem

Fragile and Picked On

Left With Nothing

Strength Appears

Confidence Repairs

and You Blow the Rest Away

Anyone Can Stab You In the Back

A song that reminds me of Mary's experiences with Jenny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS2WLrRShO8

    Jenny is is an awful sister. She has tricked and stolen from her. How can a sister do this, especially to her twin. She disgusts me so much. Jenny is so jealous of all her sister ha s accomplished that she is willing to do anything to have power over her. Jenny doesn't realize that  She has no power over Mary. The only power she had was Thomas and Thomas has openly admitted that he is not sure which sister he prefers. Jenny is a witch and she makes me incredibly angry.
 

The People On my Back

The people on my back have always been right on my heels, judging making sure I am doing the

right thing.

She causes more stress than I can handle in one lifetime, never mind in two seconds.

He is so loud that I can barely hear my own thoughts.

I shake every time they speak, afraid of the disappointment that may come with their words.

The people on my back expect too much of me.

The people on my back want a better life for me.

The people on my back want me to succeed.

The people on my back want me to experience great adventures.

Their words are never hurtful, there is just too many of them.

All of their worries circling in my brain when all I want is to experience.

Their words are never hurtful, there is just too many of them.

The people on my back also inspire me every day.

They let me see the struggles they went through and I now know why I call them the people on my

back.

The people on my back want a better life for me.

The people on my back want me to succeed.

The people on my back want me to experience great adventures.

I see why I consider them the people always on my back,

The people on my back are my parents.