Revised 600 Word Blog

The Liar's Club, by Mary Karr, is full of imagery and symbolism. She uses an almost obnoxious amount of description, perhaps to make the reader feel as though they are right there with her. One of the possible underlying themes in this book is suffering, because she refers to it many times throughout. Karr not only tells us of her family's suffering, but also shows us that each member kept their pain bottled up inside, hiding it from the others.

When Mary's mother has a complete and utter break down, things get pretty messy. She begins to burn all of Mary and Lecia's toys, right before their eyes. While this is occurring, the girls not only don't throw any sort of tantrum, like most kids their age would, they sit and watch it all happen. "I can't protest anymore, and I can see that Lecia has been scooped pretty empty too. We are in the grip of some big machine grinding us along. The force of it simplifies everything. A weird calm has settled over me from the inside out" (152). Watching their mother go crazy would be hard in itself, but when she is also burning all of their possessions, should have been unbearable. But the two young girls just stand by and watch, not saying a word or shedding a tear.

The girls were not the only ones who kept their feelings to themselves. Their parents were much the same, which may have been where they came to believe that was the right way to do things. When Mary's parents first announced that they were getting a divorce, it was much different than the usual, painful scene that usually comes with news of that sort. "On the other end of the couch, Mother stayed dry-eyed. That's no testament to how she felt, mind you. Maybe she held down a wellspring of ache, maybe not. She wasn't really there, or course. The enormous screwdriver had taken her Away, which was its purpose" (192). In this instance, just like the other one, its baffling that no one is as upset as they should be, at least on the outside. Just as Mary said, her mother may have been torn up about the divorce, but she never once showed it. Alcohol may have aided in covering up her feelings, but it left the girls somewhat wondering if she even cared at all.

These are just two examples of how Karr shows us that, in her home, emotions were kept within. These quotes not only paint that picture, but they are also full of the same type of imagery. The "grip of some big machine" and the "wellspring of ache" are both references to aspects of industry. This may indicate to the reader how much work it was for Mary to keep her feelings bottled up. To keep the pain of things this serious to yourself is hard for anyone to do, let alone an eight year old. Her use of these two images shows that she didn't enjoy keeping everything inside her, but she knew it was part of her "job" as her parent's child to do so. Through their actions, her parents conveyed this idea of silent suffering and Mary and her sister were inadvertently forced to be the same way. Pain and suffering were concepts of Mary's life from the very beginning, but even more obviously ones that she had to keep to herself.