October 28, 2016 - 15:04
Jessie Zong
Web Paper 7
Mother-Daughter Complications
In Suzan-Lori Park’s “Getting Mother’s Body,” she explores the complexity of mother-daughter relationships through Billy Beede and her dead mother, Willa Mae. Billy expresses extreme hatred towards her mother, however, as much as Billy is trying to push herself away from her mother’s identity, she is slowly becoming her mother.
Throughout this novel, Billy shows hatred and disrespect towards Willa Mae. She never looked up to her mother, she never respected or agreed with Willa Mae’s actions. As her mother was passing away, Billy did not show any emotions, rather she said “good riddance,” as if she didn’t care about her mother’s passing. She continues to say things like “Willa Mae was the biggest liar in Texas” (Parks 9), to prove how much she hated her.
As much as Billy hated her mother, and tried to separate herself from the Willa Mae’s reputation, she is slowly turning into her mother. Billy has always hated the fact that Willa Mae was such a big liar, however, hypocritically, she is also turning into one. When she came back from Snipes, she tried to return the dress back to Mrs. Jackson to get the money for the abortion. She lied to Mr. Jackson and said, “Snipes got a woman, not a wife, just some trashy thing that’s crazy for him. She comes into the hotel where Snipes had got me a room and she tried to burn me up. All she got was the dress” (Parks 83). However, in reality, she found out that Snipes had a wife, and got so angry and irrational that she set the dress on fire. She lied in order to get what she wanted, which is exactly how she described her mother to be when she was alive.
Whether or not she hated her mother, at the end Billy needed her. Billy, or in general the Beede’s, have this objective of doing whatever it takes to get what they want and need. Billy needed to get the jewels from her mother’s body in order to get an abortion. As much as she didn’t want to associate with her mother for the majority of this book, and saw herself as better than her mother. Her fantasies shattered when she had to depend on her dead mother’s treasure to get an abortion. She went to great extents to get this money she needed. She tried selling back her dress, sold the box that held the dress, and asking Dill for money. She visited Dill and said, “I’ma go out there on the bus and dig up—you know, her remains and such, and get the treasure. She woulda wanted me to have it, seeing as how I’m in need. I’ll use the money to get rid of this” (Parks 110). She claims that Willa Mae would’ve wanted her to have the treasure, but in the beginning of the book Billy had no intention of taking what her mother has left her. This shows that since the beginning of the book, Billy has changed based on what she needs and wants at the moment. Billy will do whatever it takes to get what she wants, which in this case is the abortion, in that way she becomes more like her mother.
Unlike a regular, stereotypical relationship Billy tries to push herself away from her mother’s identity but inevitably she still slowly turns into her mother. Her fate and Willa Mae’s fate crosses and Billy doesn’t realize that. They’re so similar in ways that Billy is starting to have the same behavior and personality as Willa Mae.