Wendy's Change In The Usual Rules By Joyce Garbe

Parents have made an impact in our lives, present or absent. Yes! They stress us out and give us headaches when things do not go how they want. Even those who are not there have affected their children. The main character of the book The Usual Rules, Wendy, has mainly been impacted by her parental status. Her biological father Garret left her and her mother. Her Mother was later remarried to her loving and comforting, step father, Josh. The biggest toll Wendy has taken was losing her mother, Janet, In September 11th, the event of the falling twin towers. With that being said, in the novel The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard, these are the characters that caused Wendy to change and grow into an independent person.
The first person who helped Wendy …show more content…
He may have been gone most of her life, but his absence helped Wendy grow and him later being present caused an exponential growth. Wendy learned that some of her father’s mistakes may have been because of his mother. Garrett expressed that to Wendy he told her that “My mother wasn’t the type to consider what I wanted, he said. It was more what she wanted for me. Or what she wanted for her, that I might provide” (page 153). Wendy started to understand that what his mother wanted for his was opposite of what her parents relationship needed during hard times. Garrett opening up helped her give him grace and embrace their new found father-daughter relationship. Moving to California with her father was a whole new ball game for Wendy. She did not really have anyone telling her what she can and cannot do. Through the experiences of breaking the rules she was used to back in New York, before her mother passed, she learned and experienced the piercing feeling of guilt, now in California. Wendy became a dropout and her father new but he wanted her to feel guilt by not saying anything. Wendy even asked “But you let me keep skipping school? Wendy asked. Hey, he told her. I trust you. I figured you’d talk to me about it when you were ready, and look. You did” (page 311). Surprisingly, Garrett silently taught Wendy a lesson, he allowed her to take responsibility and feel guilt. This lesson expressed was knowing wrong from right. Garrett may have not been there all of Wendy’s life, but he has influenced her to grow into an independent person by helping her accept people with all their flaws and mistakes they made and silently teaching her the feeling of guilt and taking