Revised 600 Word Essay

"Anyway Mother's back to me in that rocker conjured that old Alfred Hitchcock movie she'd taken us to in 1960 Psycho...Mother turned around slow to face me like old Tony Perkins. Her face come into my head one sharp frame at a time. I finally saw in these instants that Mother's own face had been all scribbled up with that mud colored lipstick. She was trying to scrub herself out"(148). It seems that in, "The Liar's Club," by Mary Karr, Mary can relive this agonizing memory. There is something wrong in her childhood if she is comparing her mother to an awful fiction movie. I believe that Mary does not see her mother as a parental figure, but a psycho who can't be cured.

I have seen the movie Psycho, so picturing her mother sitting in the rocker, is very disturbing, but an awesome comparison. I am thankful for my mother. It's a tragedy the way Mary's childhood is that of something evil in the world. I think the word Psycho is a perfect adjective for Mary's mother. it is sad that her memory connecting this point in her life to that of a killer in a movie. I think there are points where we always connect something make believe with what happens in our true lives. We hope that what we make believe will come true and that sadness of our lives will disappear.

At this point in reading we all know that Mary's mother is an alcoholic and there is something going on in her head, maybe evil thoughts? We finally understand that she did snap. I think that her father is putting up with these antics for the kids. He wants to protect them from the evil, or craziness that is in Mary's mothers mind. It's crazy to think Mary's father didn't do something sooner. This is all stemming from the heartache that Grandma put on Mary's mother. Her mother gets Nervous resulting from her Grandmother. It is sad that died, but it's a big change from when Mary's mother drives the body across Texas and back home. That road trip made her angry and compile all the damage her mother had done to her. At that point the psycho is leaving her flesh, but the alcohol is returning into her bloodstream. It's really awful to hear of these hardships knowing that they really did happen, or did something else happen?

Another disturbing image is, "If I tried to slide in with Mother too, she'd have unwrapped my arms from her neck, saying I made her hot,"(180-181). It's a tragedy when a child, or even an adult is not comforted. Mary is not close with anyone. Since the beginning of the book she has somewhat become closer to her sister, Lecia. Their relationship is that of two people exchanging an awkward hug. No wonder Mary is so close with her father. It's still not a close relationship, but its the best one she has. The alcohol and mother's Nervous is a guard between all of them. I guess back then there wasn't that much affection between family members. Her mother chooses to be close to Lecia because she would refill her addiction.

Mary's mother was affected by her own mother, but as daughters we are all a piece of our mothers whether positive or negative. From her mother's actions, Mary will not follow in her footsteps. She has witnessed her mother during her childhood. I am sure Mary is grateful for her childhood, but also angry at the way her mother treated her. I am blaming her mother because of her psycho and alcoholic way of life. Her father may have some faults, but she never mentions them as neatly as her memories from her mother. In the end Mary's mother and father were brought back together, just as Mary's one relationship ended with her father having a stroke. Her mother growing old made her stronger for who she was even if her father wasn't present.