Same, But Not the Same

Same, But Not the Same

Which character in Baggage burdens is in the best position to attempt to alter Jill’s impressions about her father? Jill’s highly respected grandmother, Josey, never approved of Frank. Her changed impression would be impressive, but how could Frank and Josey connect for any length of time. Kathy, like Jill, feared her father. A change in Kathy’s feeling could possibly influence Jill. Is it more likely that a rebuilt relationship might occur between father and daughter?

Jill and Kathy both grew up under an umbrella of fear that their father, in a an alcoholic rage, would beat them. Both became so desperate that in their final year of high school they chose to run away from home. If any one could understand Jill’s apprehensions about her father it had to be Kathy.

Kathy’s sympathetic view of her father shocks Jill. What differences in Kathy’s life could account for her change? While Jill and Kathy were both married, Kathy remained married and Jill was divorced. Jill had four children. Kathy had two. Could Kathy have more room in her heart to forgive and love her father? Deathbed insights from Kathy’s mother about Frank could shed a new light on Frank. Kathy was there to hear those comments. Jill wasn’t. What different wisdom about Frank could Alice Rezley give that would turn her daughter’s fear away?

Another difference between Kathy and Jill is that Kathy had limited contact with her father for twenty years after Alice died. Could the death of Frank’s wife, Kathy and Jill’s mother, have changed Frank’s life-long drinking habit? Would that have been enough to erase the pain and suffering he caused Kathy while she lived under his roof?

Sibling differences during childhood often form the basis for friction. However, other family experiences cement lasting supportive relationships. What stories can you tell to illustrate that situation?

Three characters in Baggage burdens. fall victim to a personal tragedy. While a character’s flaw serves as a foundation for a downfall, in the case of Frank, Jill’s father, it would be easy to miss his flaw or correctly anticipate his sorry fate. Both elements of Frank’s tragedy are explored in the next blog.