The Liars Club
An Analysis of the Relationship Between Mother and Daughter:
The Liars Club, and a look at childhood through the lens of adulthood
Marry Karr’s The Liars Club is a haunting memoire, depicting a young Texan girls struggle to survive the trials of adolescence in home that finds stability in chaos and comfort in the abusive habits of her parents. Illustrating both fond and painful memoires from her past, Karr paints a complex image of the relationship she shared with her mother; giving readers everywhere the ability to relate and empathizes with the emotional complexity of their mother daughter relationship. This complexity of relationship can be explored in three main ways: the conflicting views Karr formed of her mother, In Karr’s ability to read her mother’s moods, and an analysis of the disciplinary approach Charlie Marry Karr used on her daughters.
The main character train of Charlie Marry Karr (who will now be referred to as ‘Mother’) is that she doesn’t fit in to the environment of a small industrial town in Southern Texas. In many ways, it seems Karr sees her mother as a mysteriously glamorous creature trapped in the metaphorical prison that is Leechfield. This point is best illustrated in a passage where Mother takes both Marry and her sister Leica to the zoo. In the passage Karr makes a point of saying that with the “distance” (55) time has given her, she see’s her mother as if she were “trapped… [as if she could see a] panther pace back and forth behind the bars on the surface of her sunglasses”(55). The comparison between Mother and the zoo animals is quite interesting, and in exploring the metaphor, makes sense contextually with the rest of the novel. However, after living the life of a New York Socialite in Harlem nightclubs and penthouse parties, Mother, like the zoo animals, is trapped in a sedative life; pacing back and forth inside of a stinking hallow cage.
In remembering her mother like this Karr describes feeling a sense of pity
The Liars Club, and a look at childhood through the lens of adulthood
Marry Karr’s The Liars Club is a haunting memoire, depicting a young Texan girls struggle to survive the trials of adolescence in home that finds stability in chaos and comfort in the abusive habits of her parents. Illustrating both fond and painful memoires from her past, Karr paints a complex image of the relationship she shared with her mother; giving readers everywhere the ability to relate and empathizes with the emotional complexity of their mother daughter relationship. This complexity of relationship can be explored in three main ways: the conflicting views Karr formed of her mother, In Karr’s ability to read her mother’s moods, and an analysis of the disciplinary approach Charlie Marry Karr used on her daughters.
The main character train of Charlie Marry Karr (who will now be referred to as ‘Mother’) is that she doesn’t fit in to the environment of a small industrial town in Southern Texas. In many ways, it seems Karr sees her mother as a mysteriously glamorous creature trapped in the metaphorical prison that is Leechfield. This point is best illustrated in a passage where Mother takes both Marry and her sister Leica to the zoo. In the passage Karr makes a point of saying that with the “distance” (55) time has given her, she see’s her mother as if she were “trapped… [as if she could see a] panther pace back and forth behind the bars on the surface of her sunglasses”(55). The comparison between Mother and the zoo animals is quite interesting, and in exploring the metaphor, makes sense contextually with the rest of the novel. However, after living the life of a New York Socialite in Harlem nightclubs and penthouse parties, Mother, like the zoo animals, is trapped in a sedative life; pacing back and forth inside of a stinking hallow cage.
In remembering her mother like this Karr describes feeling a sense of pity