The Year My Mother Came Back Analysis

Each mother/daughter relationship has its own unique qualities and quirks. There are many factors that contribute to the distinct flavor that characterizes the pair. Political status, economic status, race, home life, and marital status can all affect how the mother and daughter interact. The bond between Alice Eve Cohen and her mother Louise Cohen is analyzed in Cohen’s memoir, The Year My Mother Came Back. In her novel, the reader travels with Cohen through both her troubled past, emphasizing the time surrounding her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and through the trying present that, in some ways, brings her mother back to her years after her death. Another interesting dyad consists of Mildred Pierce and Veda Pierce from the 1945 film Mildred …show more content…
This trait is where the two dyads tend to differentiate. It is fairly simple to analyze how effective Veda and Mildred are at communicating. From the very beginning of the film, the viewer can sense the hostile and cruel manner in which Veda speaks to Mildred. She had no sense of how her words affected her mother. Veda even went so far as to ask her mother to marry someone she didn’t love in order to advance their economic standing. The article Linked Lives speaks on communication between mothers and daughters and how the level of communication determines how they handle stressful situations and transitional periods. The author, Lucy Fisher, emphasizes that mothers and daughters must alter their communication patterns in order to adapt to changes in their everyday lives. Without this change in communications, the relationship can suffer. In Veda and Mildred’s case, the lack of communication was ultimately their downfall. Slowly, their failure to speak to one another allowed the two of them to become strangers. While Louise and Cohen had communication struggles of their own, the two had a much healthier relationship than Veda and Mildred. The only point in their relationship that was challenging was after Louise had her breast cancer surgery. What ultimately repairs their relationship is the sleepover the two share in Cohen’s dorm room. They stay up all night, just talking. This cathartic release of emotions allowed the two to repair what was broken in their relationship. Unlike Veda and Mildred, the two looked past their differences, even though they were mostly one sided, and looked towards a more loving future. Unfortunately, with Louise’s untimely death came the end to their long talks and sharing of secrets. The true power of communication is showcased when Louise reappears to Cohen during the most difficult year of her life. In the middle of being diagnosed with breast cancer herself,