Emily's Abandonment

If a child has a sense of abandonment while growing up one may assume that the child’s character would become ill adjusted because the child lacked nurture. Throughout the text the author, Olsen, alluded to Emily’s abandonment issues. At the tender age of eight months Emily is abandoned by her father because he “could no longer endure” (par. 8). This caused Emily’s mother to find work and she left Emily with her father’s parents. Emily’s mother did not return for her until she was two (par. 10, 12). After Emily was back with her mother she constantally begged her mom not to leave or make her go to school (par. 14, 15). Emily is again “abandoned” when her sister, Susan, is born because Emily developed measles and is sent to a convalescent home
(par. 26). When Emily returned she showed a feeling of abandonment by staying stiff and pushing back from her mother when her mother tried to hold and love her (par. 34). It was a common theme throughout the story that Emily’s sense of abandonment caused her nurture issues with her family