Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Whirlpool, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family, Appearances, and Dysfunction
Power, Control, and Freedom
Cruelty, Self-Esteem, and Adolescence
Summary
Analysis
The narrator’s sister, Louise, says that Mum wants her to come inside. Louise is already preparing for the family photo; she has her hair wrapped up in rollers and tinted Clearasil on her face, even though the Clearasil is “the strange pink-orange of a bandaid, or a doll” and doesn’t match her skin tone. The ridiculousness of Louise’s rollers makes the narrator less afraid.
It’s telling that the narrator becomes less afraid when she sees Louise in her hair rollers. While it’s still unclear why the narrator would be afraid in the first place, it seems to have something to do with Mum or the upcoming photograph. With this, the story suggests that the narrator isn’t comfortable in her home or at big events like this photograph. It’s also significant that Kennedy likens the color of Louise’s Clearasil to the color of a doll. This offers early clues for the later revelation that Mum is controlling of her daughters’ bodies. Since Louise’s Clearasil makes her look like a doll and less like a real person, she’s possibly more under Mum’s thumb than Louise is.
Themes
Louise puts her hand on her hips, irritated, and her shadow stretches across the pool. Her shadow reminds the narrator of Dad’s shadow whenever he takes family pictures. A few weeks ago, he took “tentative” pictures of Mum, with Louise and the narrator on either side of her. But two weeks ago, when she was trying to choose a photo to include with her Christmas cards, Mum snapped that she needed to have a professional photograph the family. Every photo Dad took is, in her opinion, disastrous.
Describing Dad’s photos as “tentative” adds to the sense that this household isn’t a happy one. He may be afraid to upset Mum by taking more purposeful photos. However, when Mum insists that the photos Dad took are disastrous, it suggests that Dad can’t win. Even when he tries to tiptoe around his wife’s desires, he fails to please her. It’s also telling that Dad is never in the photographs. While Mum doesn’t say that this is something that makes the pictures awful, it’s worth considering that Dad’s absence in the photos may make it harder to present a united, perfect front.
Themes
Everyone waited in silence, braced for whatever else Mum was going to say. Mum finally declared that there were no pictures in which “[they] don’t all look dreadful.” The narrator fixated on Mum’s “all.” In each photo, Mum was centered and had a firm grip on her daughters, while Dad was just a shadow “stretched thin.”
The fact that everyone waits in silence for Mum’s next words makes it clear that it’s not just Anna who fears her—Dad and Louise seem to fear Mum, too. That they brace for Mum to say something else indicates that Mum hurts people primarily through her cruel words. Indeed, the narrator seems to take Mum’s insistence that they all look “dreadful” not to mean that they all had their eyes closed or something objectively undesirable in a photo—rather, she seems to take it as judgment on how she, Louise, and Dad actually look. In this way, the story reveals that Mum is very concerned with how her family looks—and she wants them to look perfect. Describing Dad’s shadows in the photographs as being “stretched thin” may literally describe a long shadow—but also suggests that Dad struggles to hold it together in this dysfunctional household and is “stretched thin” emotionally.
Themes
Louise heads back inside. The narrator swims across the pool and doesn’t want to get out. She wants to stay in the water until she’s bleached and wrinkled. Then, she wants to lie on a towel in the sun. She floats with her eyes closed and tells herself that soon, she’ll “heave” herself out of the pool and “surrender this lightness.”
As the narrator describes what she’d rather spend her day doing, she establishes the pool as her happy place. It’s where she’s in control of her body and where she feels “light.” This is one of the story’s few indicators that the narrator might be overweight, especially when Kennedy writes that the narrator would have to “heave” herself out. “Heave” would imply that getting out is a struggle—and it may be a physical struggle because of her weight, but it might also be an emotional struggle because being outside of the pool is so unpleasant.
Themes
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Every year, summer starts on the day that Dad mows the lawn, pulls out the above-ground pool, and sets it up. Then, in the second week of December, Dad brings home a Christmas tree from the scouts. This year, Mum looked at the tree in disbelief. When Dad went outside to look for wire, Mum crouched down. Conspiratorially, she asked narrator and Louise if the scouts “keep the dud one” for Dad every year. The narrator forced herself to smile and then set about decorating the tree with Louise. They worked silently, even when Mum wasn’t watching, and ignored each other.
Summer might be the happiest time of the year for the narrator, simply because it gives her daily access to the pool. When Mum takes issue with Dad’s tree and tries to rope her daughters into being mean, it shows how Mum actively tries to divide her family members. This crops up again when the narrator notes that she and Louise ignored each other while they decorated the tree; there’s no indication that the girls feel any camaraderie or solidarity because they both have to put up with Mum’s abuse. Mum may resent Dad for his work on the pool and the fact that their daughters love the pool, so she may be trying to get the girls on her side in this moment.
Themes
Mum spends her summers inside watching tennis and drinking iced coffee. Even with the fan on, the air is still thick. Mum sighs that “you could set your clock by [Dad]” as he sweeps leaves out of the pool. The narrator stands still, unable to move, as Mum gripes that they don’t have an in-ground pool. She sighs that the “stupid” pool should’ve ended up in the trash years ago. Then, Mum pulls the narrator close and remarks that Dad is “absolutely obsessed.” The narrator smiles and nods, but the smile feels “traitorous.”
The fact that Mum spends her summers inside suggests that the inside of the house is her domain, while the yard and the pool are her husband and daughters’ domain. Her exasperation is palpable when she remarks that a person could set a clock by Dad’s daily pool skimming. Especially as she goes on to refer to the pool as “stupid” and calls Dad “obsessed” with it, it makes it clear that Mum resents the pool—possibly because her family members seem to love it so much. But complaining about not having an in-ground pool also suggests that their temporary above-ground pool might just be another indicator that the family isn’t perfect (the implication being that a perfect family would invest in a proper in-ground pool). The way that Mum draws in the narrator shows that Mum doesn’t care about her daughters’ opinions—or want them to have strong relationships with their dad. Mum might be unsuccessful in keeping her daughters and husband apart, though; describing her agreement as “traitorous” suggests that the narrator does love and care for her father, she just can’t say so in front of Mum.
Themes
Mum squeezes the narrator and offers her an iced coffee. A tennis player on the TV hits the ball hard as the oscillating fan seems to shake its head critically. The narrator swallows her iced coffee, which is so sweet that it hurts her teeth.
Offering the narrator an iced coffee reads as Mom inviting her to sit and spend time with Mum in front of the TV. This may be an attempt to convince the narrator to agree with Mum’s way of seeing the family, but the narrator isn’t buying it. Instead, she feels judged by the fan (an object inside the house—a part of Mum’s domain) and the coffee is sweet to the point of being painful. The coffee symbolizes how Mum torments her daughters: she’s outwardly kind and sweet to them, as when she draws them in for hugs and smiles. But in actuality, she’s hurtful and cruel and causes her daughters pain.
Themes
Mum restlessly watches the match and notes that “those next-door kids” will be over any time now to swim. Their parents won’t have any plans for the school holidays and instead expect Mum to “feed and entertain” their children.
Speaking disparagingly about the kids next door allows Mum to feel better about herself and her own parenting. She implies that she’s the parent on the block who plans activities and can feed neighborhood kids—and that other parents in the neighborhood take advantage of that. Refusing to use the kids’ names (by referring to them just as “those next-door kids”) adds another layer to Mum’s cruelty. These kids, in her opinion, are so inferior that it’s not even worth it to refer to them by name.
Themes
Every morning of the narrator’s school break, she feels panicky. Sooner or later, the pool will come up in conversation and come under attack. She casually changes into her swimsuit and slips out the back door, and Louise does the same. They both avoid Mum. Mum gripes regularly that the kids next door will come through the house so they can swim, but these days Leanne and Chris wait by the fence for an invitation to swim. The narrator piles up bricks as a step and whispers for them to climb over the fence.
Though the narrator doesn’t say specifically here that Mum will be the one to attack the pool, the fact that both the narrator and Louise avoid Mum on their way to the pool indicates that Mum is their adversary here. The fact that Louise and the narrator both avoid Mum in the same way indicates that Louise is just as unhappy with Mum’s treatment as the narrator is. And though Mum takes issue with the kids next door, it seems as though Leanne and Chris know to avoid Mum. Indeed, it seems as though Mum is on the verge of banning Leanne and Chris from the house outright—something she can do, as the house is her domain. But Mum doesn’t have that power over the pool. Out there, the narrator and Louise can decide who they play with and experiment with their own social groups.
Themes
With other kids around, the narrator and Louise stop avoiding each other. It’s better to play Whirlpool with four people. Everyone runs around the edge of the pool until a slow current forms. Then, everyone takes turns to jump into the middle and spin around. Chris doesn’t like being in the middle, so the narrator, Louise, and Leanne wrestle him into the whirlpool. It makes the narrator feel “sly, teeth-gritted pleasure” when Chris struggles and finally gives in. She feels powerful and like Chris “has to learn.” The girls eye each other as Chris pulls himself to his feet. Then, they start running again.
The game of Whirlpool shows that the pool isn’t just where the narrator and Louise feel powerful. Rather, it’s also where they can experiment with reproducing some of Mum’s abuse by throwing Chris into the whirlpool against his will. That the pleasure the narrator feels is “sly” and “teeth-gritted” suggests it might not be genuine pleasure—it may be tinged with cruelty or anger. But she remains firm that Chris “has to learn.” This suggests that the narrator accepts that she can’t stand up to Mum—and indeed, it’s impossible to stand up to forces or people that are more powerful than oneself.
Themes
In the middle of the pool, when it’s the narrator’s turn, she closes her eyes. The current seems to “flex[] like a muscle.” She’s in the middle of it, “loose and helpless,” and stares at the sky. If she could rise up into the sky, she’d see the rectangles of yards and houses. There would be dots of blue “like bright precious stones” with yellow grass around the edges, which grows only because water slops out during games of Whirlpool.
The pool also offers the narrator and Louise the opportunity to experiment with giving up power—and the narrator suggests that it can actually be freeing to do so. In this sense, it’s having the choice and the autonomy that makes a person powerful—not just being cruel or controlling. The description of the pools as being “like bright precious stones” with the yellow around the edges adds to the sense that the pool is a wonderful place. Indeed, the yellow grass around the edges gives the sense that the “stones” of the pools are set into gold, making them even more valuable. And the fact that these precious pools and their golden settings are everywhere and occur due to the game of Whirlpool makes it clear that pools offer kids everywhere the opportunity to experiment with power, control, and autonomy.
Themes
Inside the house, the air is thick and smells like the Christmas tree. Mum, dressed in her beautiful yellow linen dress, reminds the narrator that they’re having the Christmas photo taken today. Her tone is bright and she smiles an animated smile. From Mum’s tone, the narrator can tell that the photographer is already here. She turns to run as Mum whispers that she has 10 minutes to look presentable—and she “mean[s] it.”
Once again, Mum’s cheerful appearance—her sunny yellow dress and warm smile—contrasts sharply with a current of danger and cruelty underneath. Mum might be beautiful, bright, and smiling, but she’s also willing to threaten her daughter if the narrator doesn’t comply. This creates a situation in which the narrator probably doesn’t trust any of Mum’s kindness, as it seems to always barely obscure cruelty.
Themes
Louise is in the girls’ shared bedroom, putting on bubblegum lip gloss. Her hair is already done, secured on the top of her head with a rainbow comb. The narrator’s heart sinks when she sees what’s on the bed: the sundresses. Louise says that Mum insisted on them. Louise is already wearing her dress and since she’s thin, it’s “doesn’t look quite so ridiculous.” But the narrator’s dress is tight under the arms and then falls like a shapeless sack down to her calves. Louise adds that the narrator has to wear her sandals, too.
The bubblegum lip gloss and the rainbow comb give the impression that whatever Louise’s age (Kennedy never reveals it), she’s dressing like a young child. This, the narrator later discovers, is something Mum encourages, and it gives the impression that Mum wants her daughters to stay little girls forever. Given the way that the narrator describes the fit of her sundress, it seems as though it’s both unflattering and too small. It’s possible, then, that Mum wants her daughters to wear the dresses to make it seem like they’re still small and controllable, but this has the adverse affect of making the narrator feel uncomfortable with how she looks in this dress. It’s also important that the narrator notes that the dress is “ridiculous” on Louise too, suggesting that the sundress is just as inappropriate for Louise (though for different reasons, perhaps) as it is for the narrator.
Themes
The narrator pulls off her swimsuit and tugs the dress on over her chest. She tries to brush her hair into a ponytail like Louise’s, but it’s impossible without Mum’s hairspray and comb. She’s also sunburnt and is going to look bright pink in the Christmas photo.
Despite Mum’s clear attempts to make her daughters look younger and perfectly polished, the narrator realizes here that Mum isn’t going to entirely get her way with this Christmas photo. Indeed, the fact that the narrator has to tug the dress over her chest implies that it doesn’t fit well and won’t look good. Further, the narrator is going to look like she spends a lot of time in the sun and hasn’t had the time or the help to worry much about her hair, which might also irk Mum.
Themes
The dress squeezes across “the tingling, embarrassing swell” of the narrator’s chest. It’s a dress for a nine-year-old. A few weeks ago, the narrator asked for a training bra for Christmas. In a sweet voice, Mum said that at 12 years old, the narrator isn’t old enough for a bra. Mum’s tenderness felt “treacherous and irresistible” like a tide, and she leaned into it “as it tugged [her] off [her] feet.” In a low voice, Mum told Anna that it’s normal for “young girls” to feel self-conscious about their weight.
Even if Mum might honestly believe that 12-year-olds are too young for bras, Anna’s description of her chest as “the tingling, embarrassing swell” makes it clear that physically and emotionally, she’s ready for a bra. And in part because she’s so ready for a bra and the maturity it symbolizes, being forced to wear a nine-year-old’s dress seems especially egregious. But it’s telling that Anna describes Mum as being treacherously and irresistibly tender. Mum, this reveals, is a master manipulator. She draws her daughters in with tenderness and kindness, makes them feel safe, and then “tug[s] them off [their] feet.” She does this here by insinuating that Anna should feel self-conscious about her size. It’s important to note that there are no indicators in the story that Anna actually is overweight. She definitely doesn’t fit into children’s clothing anymore, but that’s a normal development for a girl whose body is beginning to develop—children’s clothes aren’t designed to accommodate the curves of a girl who’s entered puberty. It’s possible, then, that Mum is purposefully trying to make Anna feel self-conscious to gain more control over her daughter.
Themes
Louise had smirked triumphantly then and now, she sneers in the same way. As Anna tugs her dress over her body, Louise says airily that it makes sense that the narrator has to wear a tent-like dress because she’s so fat. Anna’s breath falters, but she “master[s]” it.
When they’re not in the pool, Louise and Anna (the narrator) seem to constantly be at odds. And the story reveals here that this is in part because Louise has learned from Mum that it’s okay to be cruel and make Anna feel awful about her body. Since Louise is thin, she may fit into Mum’s idea of what the perfect daughter should be like, affording her even more power over her sister. When Anna “master[s]” her breath, it suggests she’s done this before—abuse like this may be commonplace for her.
Themes
Having the photographer in the house seems to charge the atmosphere. Mum arranges roses and apologizes for taking up his time as Anna comes into the living room. The roses are on the mantel with Christmas cards from Mum’s friends in Canada and England. Mum and Dad met them all when they went on their honeymoon cruise to Tahiti 14 years ago. The cards include letters and holiday greetings to “your two little girls.”
Apologizing to the photographer for taking up his time is essentially an apology for the family not being perfect—if they were perfect, they would’ve been set up and ready for the photo long ago. Describing the cards on the mantel and where Mum and Dad met these friends suggests that Mum clings to what might have been a really happy time long ago. Mum may simply be yearning for an earlier time when she was happier, and this may explain some of her cruelty and her attempts to control her family. The greetings to Mum’s “two little girls” suggests that at least when it comes to these friends, Mum is successful at making people think her daughters are still small. Neither these friends nor Mum have accepted yet that Anna and Louise are growing up.
Themes
Every year at the beginning of December, Mum sits with a stack of blank cards and a list, writing out the cards. She tells Anna that one day, she’ll thank her for keeping up with these people—Anna will be able to stay with them when she travels overseas. Now, Mum’s cards sit in unsealed envelopes on the table. Each waits for a print of the family Christmas photo.
These international friends may not be actual friends to Mum. They might just be a way for Mum to feel cultured and well connected. Mum’s snappiness when she tells Anna that these friends will help Anna get ahead later reveals no deep affection for these people or happiness at one day introducing Anna to them. These friends seem to exist only to bolster Mum’s sense that her family is perfect and will one day travel internationally.
Themes
Dad sits in an armchair in a fresh shirt. Everyone listens when Mum pauses and asks if the photographer can get the Christmas tree in the background. She explains that the photo is for their Christmas card, which they’ll send to their many international friends. Brightly, she turns to Dad, calls him “darling,” and confirms that they met the friends while they were on the cruise. That word and the expression on Mum’s face makes Anna’s stomach turn over. She shudders involuntarily as the photographer moves his camera.
The fact that everyone stops to listen to Mum here mirrors how everyone waited for Mum’s assessment of Dad’s photos earlier in the story. Mum runs the show in this family—and everyone else can only sit back and do what she says. When Mum makes it clear to the photographer that this photo will go to international friends, it supports the possibility that Mum is only sending these cards because she wants to look cultured and connected. And when Anna has such an adverse reaction to Mum calling Dad “darling,” it implies that Mum and Dad’s relationship isn’t happy and tender. Indeed, Mum is probably doing to Dad what she’s done to Anna: drawing him in with kindness and sweetness so she can then cut him down just when he feels safe.
Themes
Mum asks Louise if she thinks the white pinecones on the table look Christmassy. Louise agrees and Mum asks her to move an angel holding a candle onto the table too. Anna dawdled an extra five minutes in the pool, so Louise is the favorite today. Anna knows this for sure when Mum puts a heavy hand on her shoulder. It seems to say, “Just you wait.”
The clarification that Louise is the favorite today implies that Anna isn’t Mum’s only target; sometimes, Louise finds herself the recipient of Mum’s ire or cruelty, just like Anna. Mum’s heavy hand on Anna’s shoulder communicates how dangerous Mum is (“Just you wait” is threatening), but the heavy hand is also controlling. It means that Anna can’t move where she’d like to. Instead, she has to go where Mum wants her.
Themes
Mum steers Anna to sit on the floor in front of the couch. She then tells Louise to sit on one side of her and Dad to sit on the other. Mum checks her hair in the mantel mirror before she sits down and tells the photographer that they’re ready. Anna knows that next year, Mum’s friends will write that they haven’t changed at all.
The way that Mum arranges the family creates the illusion that this is a well-groomed, close-knit family. Given what Anna has said about Mum’s cruelty, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In this way, the story makes it clear that it’s impossible to judge a family’s functionality from the outside, such as from a Christmas photo. Photos can obscure all manner of dysfunction, as evidenced by Anna saying that Mum’s friends will think nothing has changed. In reality, nothing probably has—there’s no indication that Mum wasn’t abusive last year—but this shows that Mum is successfully putting on a show for her friends.
Themes
Everyone is touching and it’s weird. Mum’s knee, which is covered in nylon, is behind Anna. The nylon must be hot today. Dad’s shin presses into Anna’s back and he leans forward. In a low voice he says he put the hose in the pool to get it all ready, but Mum hears and asks Dad if they can “forget about that dinky little pool” for five minutes. Her voice is forced and breezy.
When Anna thinks of how uncomfortably warm Mum must be in her nylon stockings, it’s the first indication that Mum might be uncomfortable or unhappy with her life more generally. But it’s also important to note that Mum is doing this on purpose; the photo was her idea and her clothing choices were, presumably, her own. On another note, Dad’s mention about filling up the pool becomes one of the most tender moments in the entire story, and it shows that Anna and Dad are fairly close. To Mum, this is unacceptable and perhaps makes her feel threatened. This is why she asks if they can “forget” the “dinky” pool—it’s the one thing that deprives her of power, so it makes sense that she’d want to pretend it doesn’t exist.
Themes
Anna stares into the camera lens staring back at them. Mum tells Dad to keep his eyes open and his mouth closed, laughing a bit as she does. Anna thinks bitterly and hopelessly that Dad isn’t going to answer her. The photographer tells everyone to smile and Anna knows what Mum’s smile will be like. It’ll be “triumphant.” Dad will look uncomfortable to be in the picture for once.
Even if Dad supports Anna and Louise by maintaining the pool for them, Anna still seems bitter that Dad won’t actually stand up to Mum. In this way, the story shows that Anna feels alone and unsupported in her family. The idea that Mum’s smile is going to be “triumphant” suggests that this photograph will be a win for Mum. It will create the illusion that she has a perfect family—even if Dad looks uncomfortable, and even if Anna is supremely unhappy.
Themes
Anna glances toward Louise and is shocked that Louise is staring back. Something passes between them; it feels like the reckless moment before one of them throws themselves or Chris into the middle of the whirlpool. The girls turn back to the camera. Anna doesn’t smile and she knows Louise isn’t smiling either. Instead, their faces are “compliant and empty.” The photographer reminds the girls to smile, and Anna flashes a “dead, robot smile.”
This moment of unity clarifies that Louise suffers at Mum’s hands, just like Anna does. She also seems to want to subvert Mum just as much as Anna does. In this moment, then, Anna and Louise begin to move the more positive relationship they enjoy in the pool into a new realm. This offers hope that Anna and Louise will, as they get older, learn to support each other as they weather Mum’s cruelty. And by choosing to look “compliant and empty” or giving a “dead, robot smile,” Anna and Louise try to help viewers of the resulting pictures see that they’re victims here. They essentially rebel quietly against Mum by doing this. Mum will technically get the photos she wants, but they’re not going to portray genuinely happy girls. Instead, the photos will portray the girls as dolls, harkening back to Louise’s off-color Clearasil being the color of a doll at the beginning of the story.
Themes
With her eyes, Anna tries to beg Mum’s friends to see everything coded in in the photo. She wants them to see how stiffly she sits in this humiliating dress, cross-legged like a child. She hopes they see how “heavy and proprietorial” Mum’s hand is on her shoulder. Suddenly, Anna understands that the sundresses are about Mum—and she realizes that the look on Mum’s face when she asked for a bra wasn’t scorn. It was terror. All of these realizations “bloom[]” too fast as the camera flashes.
Anna wants Mum’s friends to understand that she’s a victim and Mum isn’t actually a nice person. Mum is actively trying to make Anna and Louise seem younger than they are, for longer than is actually possible—this is why Anna wears a child’s dress and sits cross-legged on the floor. Most importantly, Anna recognizes that Mum wants her and Louise to stay young because Mum is afraid of her daughters growing up. It’s possible that Mum tries to disguise her terror as scorn and cruelty. This, it seems, is why she wouldn’t get Anna a bra: buying the garment would mean acknowledging that Anna is maturing, a prospect that terrifies Mum and threatens her sense of control. Mum’s “heavy,” “proprietorial” hand on Anna’s shoulder symbolizes this control.
Themes
When the photographer says “OK,” Louise asks if they can be dismissed. Anna feels fear run through her when she notices the sullen tone of Louise’s voice. Louise can only take this risk because the photographer is here, oblivious to the fact that he’s a “circuit-breaker.”
This passage confirms that Mum doesn’t normally tolerate any pushback, since Louise is only able to be as sullen as she’d like to be with the photographer around. Anna’s fear—and her understanding of why Louise can talk like this—speaks to how dangerous or fraught behaving like this would be at any other time. But the fact that the photographer has no idea that he’s a “circuit-breaker” shows that Mum is still doing a good job of presenting her family as perfect and functional, as the dysfunction clearly isn’t registering with the photographer.
Themes
Dad speaks up before Mum can and says the girls can go—it’s too hot to be inside, “trussed up” in good clothes. Mum will make Dad will pay for his use of “trussed,” Anna knows. She thinks of how each evening, he gathers abandoned towels and hangs them on the clothesline. He always sweeps them off regretfully before coming inside. Anger rises in Anna.
When Dad steps in, he stands up for his daughters and undermines Mum’s power. Saying that the girls are “trussed up” suggests that Dad doesn’t agree with Mum’s attempt to make everyone look perfect and childish—he’d probably rather his daughters be who they want to be. Anna might be angry as she thinks of Dad’s nightly tidying because she recognizes how sad it is that Dad has to take time and power for himself in these ways. The pool is no doubt a positive thing for Anna, Louise, and Dad—but Anna might also believe that they all should feel just as comfortable inside the house, too.
Themes
The photographer offers to take portrait shots of just Mum and Dad together, Anna watches the “charm and chill collide” in Mum; the offer catches her off guard. Though she hesitates, Mum agrees to the photos. Anna is certain she sees Mum’s thoughts running ahead grimly, plotting “exile and allegiance” and acting like the undertow.
Anna describes watching Mum’s thoughts as though this is the first time she’s seeing them and able to confirm her suspicions about how Mum functions. Anna confirms that Mum uses her charm to hurt people when she talks about watching the “charm and chill collide.” This collision also suggests that Mum’s perfect facade breaks momentarily, revealing how conniving she is. The fact that Mum is clearly plotting “exile and allegiance” shows that she gains power by pitting her family members against each other and forcing them to fight for her approval. In a setup like this, Mum is like the undertow in the ocean, moving everything around without others seeing—but she’s dangerous as she does so. Just as the undertow has the power to pull people out to sea, Mum has the power to knock her family members down with very little effort.
Themes
Anna races upstairs, pulls off her dress, and puts her swimsuit back on. She pulls the pins out of her hair and then races out the screen door for the pool. It’s full now and seems like a “watching eye” ready to spill “glinting, unshed tears.”
Realizing the truth about Mum’s actions and fears might be overwhelming for Anna, hence her mad dash for the pool. Even as she begins to take control of her body (by refusing to smile) and develops a more critical understanding of her mother, this doesn’t mean she’s ready to deal with the truth all the time. Describing the pool as a “watching eye” ready to shed tears suggests that Anna sees the pool as a sympathetic, larger-than-life figure. It’s there to cry for her and accept her as she is, and it gives her a safe space to think through these revelations in her own time. But this passage also suggests that it’s Anna’s eyes that are filling up with angry, frustrated tears that she knows she can’t shed under Mum’s “watching eye.”
Themes
