Mia’s mother, Joanne, exhibits behavior that has influenced the way Mia feels about
men. As her relationship with Connor continues, Joanne begins to take on the role of a
traditional wife, whereas before she was more concerned with drinking and partying, and
seemed to not care if her children had eaten or not. Joanne washes Connor’s white dress
shirts and hangs them to dry outside the window of her apartment as if they are white
surrender flags to patriarchal order. She never speaks of having a job, nor is she seen coming
or going from a job, but she tells a friend on the phone of the happiness she has found with
Connor and consoles her friend not to worry because “she’s gonna meet someone.” Jeanne
Dubino explains how romance narratives have conveyed the message of patriarchal order
that defines rigid gender roles for both men and women: “Romances bolster patriarchal
ideology, continuing to affirm the centrality of men in women’s lives and to harness the
desire of both men and women for a gendered other. And, romances help to reconcile
women to their domestic role as houseworkers” (Dubino 109).
Joanne’s role is more substantial in Mia’s life than just Mia’s observational influence
of her. The role of a mother is very complex, “Life and death, renewal and destruction,
belong together as mutually indispensible opposites. So the life-creating maternal archetype
also has a destructive aspect” (Birkhauser-Oeri 26). There is a dark side to the relationship
between Mia and her mother. When Joanne pinches Mia’s arm while telling her to stay in
her room, this suggests a “thorn-prick” which is a characteristic of “dark mother figures”
(Birkhauser-Oeri 27). These dark undertones come to a climax when Mia’s mother confesses
to her daughter that she had an appointment to have her aborted. This confession takes
place when the mother is emotionally distressed after Connor leaves Joanne. She projects
her anger toward Mia, blaming her for the destructiveness of her life. But this lack of
maternal instinct in the mother pushes Mia to leave her home and make a life of her own,
“There are some maternal figures that are entirely destructive from a human point of view,
and others whose negative effects are followed by change and renewal” (Birkhauser-Oeri
27). This change is seen when Mia leaves her home in search of a better life. Her mother’s
destructive behavior toward Mia’s psyche has become the motivation for Mia to seek out a
better life for herself and the only way she can accomplish this is by leaving the setting in