Analysis Of Veronica Hegarty's The Gathering

Often times, the mind will repress traumatic events to protect the person in question. The Gathering, a culmination of Veronica Hegarty’s true or false memories from childhood and tales about her relatives, explores Veronica’s memory and attitudes towards her family, her life, and her past. Veronica’s frigid relationship with her siblings and husband, her promiscuity, and the revelations of her memory cause her to feel “pawed, used, loved, and very lonely”. Throughout this self-journey, Veronica establishes herself as a survivor moving past anger and resentment, but human beings in general have no way of knowing whether the future will in fact “be okay”. This adds to Veronica’s desire to have someone reassure her of the future and if she can continue to survive. …show more content…
“I don’t forgive the endless hand-me-downs, and few toys, and Midge walloping us because my mother was too gentle, or busy, or absent, or pregnant to bother,” Veronica resents her mother completely even though she is aware that it is not her mother’s fault. (Enright 38) Her mother has been pregnant 19 times, seven of which were miscarriages, “The holes in her head are not her fault. Even so, I have never forgiven her any of it. I just can’t.” (Enright 37) Yet, with eleven siblings Veronica has only had a strong relationship with Liam. Her marriage is cold and she does not like her husband and the added fear that her children will not love her after they have grown leaves her lonely albeit