Flowers in the Attic deeply explores various topics related to child neglect, abuse, unhealthy parental dynamics, and family patterns. However, one of the most prominent themes that had been reflected in the book is the characteristics of the mother-daughter relationship. An evident general pattern related to this dynamic is the unconscious inheritance of certain traits of a mother by a daughter, and often it happens not only without the realization of the process but also with a strong negative bias against the mother’s persona.
One of the most influential aspects of the studied relationship is the break of trust and the development of false expectations. Following the plot of the story, the mother betrays the trust of her children, which makes them question her intentions toward them. This way, their initial perception of her started to resemble false expectations that were easily juxtaposed with the mother’s emotional neglect towards her children. In fact, it is partially foreshadowed at the beginning of the book. During the time the father was alive, there seemed to be more love and trust directed by the children towards him rather than their mother. It is subtly shown here: “This was our company room, our mother’s room, and never could we feel really comfortable on the apricot brocade sofa or the cut-velvet chairs. We preferred Daddy’s room…” (Andrews 7). Although, at that point of the story mother did not do anything antagonist, Cathy felt more comfortable with her dad. It creates an impression of emotional distance from the mother and implies that such communication and trust dynamics within the family affected the emotional well-being of the protagonist.
A stronger attachment to one of the parents has direct consequences on a child’s behavior. For instance, studies have discovered that infants who were more attached to their mothers “concentrated more on play (they were more absorbed, less distracted, and more balanced emotionally) and resolved conflicts with other children more autonomously” (Dagan and Sagi‐Schwartz 118). Thus, considering that the protagonist was initially more attached to her father, it could imply that the lack of attention from her mother affected her ability to deal with emotions.
In this sense, less emotional attachment and trust made Cathy resemble her mother more than if they had closer relationships. Within the interactions with her husband and children, Cathy’s mother was portrayed to know exactly how she should behave in order to maintain the environment that she liked (Andrews 6). It is an indicator of a good analysis of the surroundings and the ability to manipulate people subtly. However, this quality also refers to the possible issues related to the carefree expression of genuine emotions. Essentially, it means that the mother’s behavior affected Cathy’s level of attachment to her, and it eventually led to the development of the qualities similar to her mother’s within the child.
The similarities between a mother and a daughter were foreshadowed by Cathy’s desire to understand the way her mother was presenting herself. While watching her mother apply makeup, Cathy’s reaction was: “And I, so eager to learn, drank in everything she did to turn herself from just a pretty woman into a creature so ravishingly beautiful she didn’t look real” (Andrews 6). Hence, from a young age, the girl was curious and sympathetic toward her mother’s actions and routine, which implies that later in life, she would subconsciously use the knowledge acquired from observing her mother present herself.
In fact, learning certain patterns of behavior from the parents is a natural experience for children. As the “transmission of parental values is mediated through the children’s perceptions of these values” the way Cathy’s mother presented herself was more influential on her children than the way she actually felt (Šimunović et al. 5). It means that the external behavior of the mother majorly affected the way Cathy behaved once she grew older. Thus, because of this pattern, mother-daughter relationships resemble a pass-down of a specific set of values and the way of behaving.
The eventual similarity between the mother and the daughter is additionally portrayed through their relationships with men. For instance, when the grandmother claimed: “Innocent? That is exactly what your father and I always presumed about you and your half-uncle!” it was primarily revealed that the mother was involved in incest relationships (Andrews 67). Moreover, in the conversation with the grandmother, she was acting defensively towards a disapproving attitude. As for Cathy, within that moment, she did not specifically express any opinion on the matter of incest, but further in the story, she engaged in intimate relationships with her older brother.
This dynamic foreshadows the pattern of similar values and decisions between mothers and daughters. Furthermore, Cathy became as defensive about her connection with Christopher as her mother was about her relationship with the father. Hence, between a mother and a daughter, there are empathized patterns of engagement in the forbidden relationships as well as the attitude towards the people who disapprove of it. According to Hellmann et al., “Offspring may attend to experiences of their same-sex parent because sex differences in life-history strategies or dispersal result in daughters being more likely to encounter the environments experienced by their mothers” (2790). Following this statement, the extent to which a daughter resembles her mother is often determined by the mother’s experiences that a daughter witnessed and processed.
To summarize all the previous aspects, within a mother-daughter dynamic, a daughter is often prone to inherit the way her mother presents herself, her value system, and even intimate relationship patterns. Since the initial emotional resemblance to her mother developed mainly because Cathy was naturally closer to her father, it defines the extent of how subconscious her resemblance to the mother became. In fact, the mother’s neglecting actions evoked a negative perception of her persona and the desire to take revenge on her in the protagonist (Andrews 623). Therefore, Cathy separated the image of her mother from her own and made her a villain. This way, the girl mentally denied any possible similarities between her and her mother, despite already being similar.
Complete mental separation from the mother and a claim for independence is defined by the denial of the existing inheritance patterns. This feeling is complex: in Cathy’s case, it consists of the response to the emotional neglect, subconscious acknowledgment of similar dynamics, and a will to define her independence from her mother’s influence. A certain part of it has its origins in the patriarchic bias related to the concept of femininity. As such, one of the reasons for deprecating the mother’s value in Cathy’s life can be driven by the goal to “decrease the value of a rival relative to oneself” (Fisher 1). The concept of female rivalry within a family relationship does not occur as often as within the process of finding a partner or securing a romantic connection. However, in Flowers in the Attic, this dynamic is foreshadowed by the exploration of incestuous relationships that smudge the common boundaries of ethics.
In the end, the mother-daughter relationship portrayed in Flowers in the Attic consists of multiple layers of meaning mainly because of the lack of honest communication, emotional neglect, and modified ethical principles between Cathy and her mother. Although the protagonist seeks independence from the mother’s influence due to the emotional damage she acquired, evident behavior-related patterns that resemble her mother are prominent in her. As Cathy was prone to observe and learn from her mother since early childhood, she unconsciously inherited her mother’s worldview.
Throughout the story, the protagonist starts to comprehend the damaging impact of her mother’s actions on her and her family, and she does not want to resemble her mother in this sense. Moreover, she genuinely believed that she was more emotionally intelligent and kind than her mother. Because of it, she started to deny any small similarities that she could notice between the two of them as a way to resist a mother’s influence and cope with the emotional neglect. However, with the progression of the plot, the mother’s impact became more prominent in Cathy. Hence, despite resisting the process of inheriting certain habits and the point of view of her mother, the protagonist remained deeply affected by the mother-daughter influential patterns.
Works Cited
Andrews, Virginia C. Flowers in the Attic/Petals on the Wind. Vol. 1. Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Dagan, Or, and Abraham Sagi‐Schwartz. “Early attachment network with mother and father: An unsettled issue.” Child Development Perspectives, vol. 12, pp.115-121, 2018.
Fisher, Maryanne L., and Nakita Archibald. “A thousand times more beautiful: Priming competitor derogation in women.” Current Psychology, pp. 1-9. , 2019.
Hellmann, Jennifer K., et al. “Sex‐specific plasticity across generations I: Maternal and paternal effects on sons and daughters.” Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 89, ed. 12, pp. 2788-2799, 2020.
Šimunović, Mara, Ina Reić Ercegovac, and Josip Burušić. “How important is it to my parents? Transmission of STEM academic values: The role of parents’ values and practices and children’s perceptions of parental influences.” International Journal of Science Education, vol. 40, pp. 977-995, 2018.