“Her grandmother keeps announcing that Esme will never find a husband if she doesn't change her ways.”
The narrative centers on the theme of mental illness through the protagonist Esme and what it takes to be considered mentally ill. The reader notices that Esme’s behavior might sometimes be bizarre at times but not outrageous enough to be regarded as an extreme mental disorder. Just because she does not conform to the typical traits expected of her by her family and society she becomes an outcast. It raises the question, what is the definition of insanity? Since Esme is licked up in an institution for sixty just for having unique character traits that would otherwise be considered disorders by an oblivious society. The assertion highlights how her peculiar character that is instantly judged by her family as a mental illness.
“We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents.”
Further delving into the issue of Esme’s mental health, she appears to be a victim of childhood trauma and to an extent attention deficit disorder. But she is ultimately institutionalized as if she is a serious mental case who is a danger to herself and society. The narrative highlights that family history plays a major role in molding our traits and future. Her family has a dark past that haunts each generation due to kept secrets and mysteries surrounding the events. In the assertion, Esme, therefore, expresses how her character or identity is just a product of her own family even if we tend to place it on the individual.
