Why do you think Emilie didn’t run for help when her mother drowned?
Even at her young age, Emilie was well aware of her mother’s tremendous anger and pain. I think she understood that her mother was not interested in continuing to live. If Emilie had gone for help in time, her mother’s life would be even worse. Losing her children with her husband absent then blaming Emilie for her loss really destroyed the mother.
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I interpreted Emilie’s response to witnessing her mother’s suicide as an act of self-preservation.
Emilie was profoundly hurt by her mother’s rejection and overt hateful feelings expressed towards her. Emilie seemed to recognize on some level her need to protect her own well-being.
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Good point about self preservation
Emilie was mentally and physically tormented by her Mother for reasons out of Emilie’s control. I believe she knew how miserable her Mother was and allowed nature to absorb her by drowning.
Emile did not want her mother to suffer any longer. Although her mother was abusive I think Emile (and perhaps Owl) felt killing herself was the only way to escape the torture she was going through. Going through that scene again in my mind it is hard for me to fathom the physical pain of birth along with fear and horror. I wonder why she did not take her life sooner? Anyone else think the same thing?
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I think Emilie had complicated feelings around her mom going to the creek. Initially, she pleaded with Delpha not to do it, but when her cries were ignored, she realized no one could force her mother to stay without causing more suffering. Maybe Emilie felt Delpha would be free.
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Yes. I thought Delpha would have done it sooner, too. She was so tormented
I think Emilie realized death was the only way her mother would truly be at peace. I think if she had interfered, her mother would have hated her even more.
I thought Delpha would have done it sooner too.
Emilie was just turning eleven and woke from the terrible dream and saw her mother going out and told her not to do it. I think when Delpa slapped Emilie so hard across her face and told her not to call her Mama and told her she was a changeling and then kicked her, was a breaking point finally for Emilie. Emilie wondered why she didn’t go and get help and later still wondered why. I think she was in a trance of some sort because she mentioned she experienced the eerie sensation of watching herself and her mother through Owl’s eyes. It made her dizzy and she steadied herself against a tree trunk. She said by the time she regained her balance her mother was nowhere in sight.
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Emilie never had any power over her mother’s feelings or actions in a positive way. It was as though she was watching the inevitable happening. There was almost a relief, a very sad relief to it for her mother and herself.
I don’t think there was anything Emilie could have done to prevent it. Delpha was mentally ill and lived in torment. She was determined to die. I hates to say it, but it was actually a blessing for Emilie to be free of her mother’s hatred. I don’t think that was the reason Emilie couldn’t get help though. It just would have been to late to stop it by the time Emilie got help.
She might have been in shock. It would be hard to watch as someone ends their life by drowning. There was nothing anyone could do to help her mother.
I agree. I think Emilie saw her mother was sick and tormented.
Yes, that could certainly be true.
I think she knew her Mother wanted so desperately to die that she did not want to be the one responsible for keeping her alive in a “living hell’“. She also might have had some unconscious feeling of hate towards her because of how her Mother treated her.
I think her mother was in pain and suffering. This is a great ethical question; do we allow or at least not assist someone ending a life if we know that there can be no help for them? Emilie might have frozen from being in shock, but I think it more likely that she could not stop her mom. If her mother was not successful that day she would try another time. So sad for her mom and Emilie, but I try to remember the person is in such pain and cannot see any other way out.
Reading everyone else’s responses has me agreeing that the situation for her mother was hopeless and she was most definitely mentally ill. Emilie tried to stop her but could get no response. There was nothing more she could do and I think if she succeeded in finding someone to help it would certainly have been too late.