Mary's Emotional Neglect

Mary’s journey to find her identity is long and full of challenges. Lack of self confidence shadows her life until she starts to get used to living in her uncle’s manor. This is nothing but a reflection of the bad treatment she has experienced in India; lack of self confidence and ignorance are one facets of the same coin. Burnett, in her novel, presented the problem of parental ignorance in a way so advanced to its age. Readers sympathize with Mary as they realize from the beginning that she does not get any attention from her parents. Studies have proved that parental neglecting has chaotic consequences. Children experiencing emotional neglect are likely to have delays in language, cognitive and social development. Emotional neglect can lead …show more content…
Burnett attempts in her novel to relate Mary’s emotionally neglect by her parents to British imperialism in India. The question that wanders in readers’ minds is whether Mary is a victim or she is responsible of the defects of her personality. Burnett through the character of Mary tries to show the negative side of imperialism. Burnett initially positions her protagonist as the innocent victim of British imperialism. She does this by constructing the character and childhood experiences of Mary as negative projections against an idealised model of the Romantic child, which is initially implied, rather than stated in the text. The Romantic child would be expected to have a quality of innocence; to be imaginative and playful, and also to display an intuitive relationship with nature. The embodiment of these abstract aspects would be symbolised by an attractive personality and the physical beauty associated with childhood. Ideally these positive qualities would be nurtured by a loving and caring family which also allowed the freedom for the child to explore physically and intellectually. As a result of Mary's early childhood in India, her character has sadly developed in an opposite to the suggested ideal model which Burnett presented. Mary, the unwanted child, is estranged from her parents by the demands and attractions of imperialist rule. Instead of being cared for by her mother, Mary is given over to an Ayah. As a consequence of this denial of parental responsibility, she learns to be a ruler, rather than a child. She is simply ignorant of children’s normal life. She commands her native servants in an imperious manner, insulting them as she sees fit. Mary has no reason to govern herself, and is therefore emotionally self-indulgent, engaging in self-centred fits of rage. She is also indulged by having servants; consequently she is not required to do anything for herself, not