Review: That Hand Rocks the Cradle

Flowers in the Attic
Virginia Andrews
HarperCollins
2012 Edition
978-000-792787-6

Shall they clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?- Isaiah 45:9

In referencing this Bible scripture, you'd think Flowers in the Attic would be a wholesome tale of spiritual maturity. But if you've read the book or seen the film adaptations, you know that isn't true. Or is it? While the story is anything but wholesome, it follows the trials and maturation of the four Dollangager children reeling from a family bombshell that they will never recover from, a truth that will ultimately determine who they become.

In 1957 Pennsylvania, the Dollangangers are the typical well-to-do white family living in suburban bliss. Cathy, the story's narrator, is in love with her parents and three siblings. But all that changes when her father dies in a car accident. Now Corrine, the mother, and four children are left in a financial bind. She reveals to her children a shameful family secret: she and her late husband were actually uncle and niece. She moves her children back to her childhood home, Foxworth Hall,in Virginia. There she hopes to regain her father's love and be written back into his will after he banished her for committing incest with his younger brother. There, Corrine and the children live under the extremist conservative Christianity the Foxworth family prides themselves on, especially Corrine's mother, Olivia. She is the ultimate villain in gray. That is until Corrine herself begins to lose sight of her children with her return to riches and luxury. The two women seem to unknowingly work together to bring about the demise of the four Dollaganger children, faciliting the forbidden. The Foxworth family drama continues to unravels as the four children are locked in the attic for nearly three years, suffering loss and dignity while grappling with the emotions that come with evolving as a person and a sexual being.

Definitely melodramatic, this tale spins with ardent abandon at moments covering the minutia of a given day with what could be akin to a Southern drawl. But even with an outrageous storyline and sometimes unrealistic dialogue for pre-teens, the personal evolution of the characters is relatable. Questions of identity, gender politics, and one's own relationship to his or her maturing sexuality read true. The structure was succinct and the characterization strong. Flowers in the Attic will take you on a wild ride of emotions and probably leave you somewhat disturbed. But if you're looking for a family drama like no other, pick up this Virginia Andrews classic. Continue with the Dollanganger saga if you'd like. I will....

Join me on July 8th for the next installment, Petals in the Wind. I can't wait to share with you!

Ruminations: That Hand Rocks the Cradle

No, this is not a commentary on Rebecca De Mornay's turn as a psychopathic nanny in the 90s classic The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. (That would make a good book though.) But her turn in a patently female role as well as watching the film Wonder Woman got me to thinking about the beginnings of gender roles in society. From whence do they come?

In reading Flowers in the Attic, I automatically assumed I would want to discuss sibling relationships, particularly (spoiler alert!) incest. But as I continued reading, I kept wondering about the origins of gender role expectations. The two eldest siblings Christopher (14) and Cathy (12) have to manage their younger siblings' and their own lives as they live in their grandparents' attic. That's a heavy weight to bear at a stage when their gendered identity development is even more encumbered by their biological evolution. They can't just be kid siblings anymore; they have to be mother and father. That grated at me as these two had slipped into traditional parental roles. Although they did share the responsibilities of rearing their twin siblings, Cathy represents the softness of a burgeoning motherhood and limited agency in development, while Christopher is the protector and keeper of knowledge, forever "manslaining" everything as if Cathy can't possibly know what she is talking about. It could be sibling tension, or it could spell out the future for the both of them: Christopher can enjoy his white male privilege while Cathy will have to juggle becoming a top ballerina and rocking the cradle.

But then I had this thought: without their parents' consistent presence, did Cathy and Christopher learn enough to fulfill the socially prescribed expectations of man and woman? Or could their inherent biological traits dictate what roles they would effortlessly fall into? While gender as a social construction has become an accepted idea, I have yet to hear commentary on how our biological makeup works for or against us in a society of pre-subscribed identities. Am I supposed to be a mother just because I have a uterus? Is a man not supposed to be a stay-at-home-dad because of his physical strength? Is a woman not supposed to lead a tech company because she's nurturing?  Are men supposed to cheat just because they higher sex drives? So, how much have we not only let nature dictate nurture, but how much have we let this relationship determine what roles we take and the roles we expect others to fulfill?

I think a larger question is what is our relationship to our biological sex and gender identities? Do we know what they are? More importantly, where does our humanity lie outside of our gender and sexuality?

While I don't advocate smoking, I think you should let this one sit in your proverbial pipe.

Come back on June 25th for the review of this twisted Dollanganger family drama!