Both Sal and Phoebe have experienced the pain of having their mothers leave home. Sal’s mother, who loved her family but had to get away, left home to go to Idaho. Her reason was that she needed to leave after a particularly painful tragedy that all the family experienced. She has gone to see a cousin, someone who knew her when she was a child, before she was a wife and mother. She has not...
Both Sal and Phoebe have experienced the pain of having their mothers leave home. Sal’s mother, who loved her family but had to get away, left home to go to Idaho. Her reason was that she needed to leave after a particularly painful tragedy that all the family experienced. She has gone to see a cousin, someone who knew her when she was a child, before she was a wife and mother. She has not ceased to love Sal and her husband, but feels she has to discover, or perhaps rediscover, who she is, since her world has been completely upset.
Phoebe’s mother left without giving a reason. She left vague messages in notes to Phoebe, Phoebe’s sister Prudence, and Mr. Winterbottom. She also fixed several meals and put them in the freezer. Despite the obvious fact that Mrs. Winterbottom planned to leave of her own free will, Phoebe thinks that her mother has been kidnapped. She investigates the “mystery,” finding several clues that support her conclusion.
Both Sal and Phoebe have difficult times coping with the loss of their mothers. Sal begins to make sense of her situation as she helps Phoebe get through her own problem. Both girls learn to see that they themselves were not the reasons for their mothers’ departures, in spite of their own self-absorption. They begin to see their mothers as people in their own rights, as human beings, not just their parents. By this understanding, both girls learn to let go of the previous images they had of their mothers, and in doing so gain a measure of freedom and independence.
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