Jill Ker Conway Analysis

    From such a young age Jill had to take on a major role as the glue that held her family together. Her family relied on her a lot for several different tasks mostly work on their land with the animals. Her family struggled without rain which allowed their land to flourish. “There was no getting around that the work was there and had to be done, and so I fell early into a role it took me many years to escape, the person in the family who would rise to the occasion, no matter the size of the task” (p.157). Her parents did not even want her to attend a school like her brothers, they relied on her to stay and help the family. She was required to take on an adult role as a caretaker for her family. She was not even able to have a full childhood experience. 

    As she wrote, “Lacking playmates, I would retreat from the adult world to my swing, set away in the eucalyptus trees a hundred yards or so from the house. There I would converse at length with imaginary companions, usually characters from some recently read novel or war correspondents report which I only dimly understood” (p.161-162). With the lack of her ability to enjoy her adolescent years, she was only able to be a child when she was alone. Her parents expected her to take on responsibilities with limited her ability to interact with children her own age. People are naturally social beings and when you deprive them of the interaction, they have to find that social element somewhere else. Jill found this interaction through her imaginary friends. 

Word Count: 276

Comments

  1. Katie TaylorFebruary 15, 2021 at 7:51 AM

    You did a great job of analyzing how Jill Ker Conway was given adult responsibilities from a young age. I especially liked your quote because Conway realized that she was living like an adult and was only able to act like a child when she was alone. Also, Conway's development of imaginary friends shows that she is lacking the kind of childish social interaction that most kids have with friends their own age. She was treated as an adult and did not have that kind of interaction.

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