What I Saw Theme

When recognizing the power struggle between a mother and daughter during adolescent years, readers are able to gain a deeper understanding into the theme of coming of age, and the role it plays in Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied. Evie and her mom Bev have been close their whole lives. The loss of Evie’s father forced them to live alone, inevitably, making them rely on each other. Now, Bev has remarried to Joe, a soldier who fought in WWII, and Evie is just beginning her teenage years. She dreams of the days she can smoke a cigarette and wear Revlon lipstick, just like her mother does. Constantly asking Bev if she can act older than she is, Evie says “I want to wear lipstick”, in which Bev responds, “Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up, baby...It’s not all polka dots …show more content…
Although her mother’s restrictions promote Evie’s rebellious side and these trials, they allow her to learn. Evie will then act older as she learns lessons about her childish ways, satisfying her wishes of growing up. The development of this theme permits readers to look at the power struggle between Bev and Evie in a new way. It shows that this ongoing clashing is actually helpful for Evie in which she would not learn crucial lessons that aid her in growing up. In relation to the mother’s protective parenting, Bev knows and has experienced adulthood and the lessons that follow it. She knows the responsibilities that are attached to the glamour of it all, which gives an explanation of why she holds so much power over Evie and limits the grown up things she wants to participate in. With knowledge of the conflicting mother and daughter relationship over power and growing up, readers can recognize the theme of coming of age as Evie learns significant lessons about the transition into adulthood and how it contributes to the understanding of the mother’s stern restrictions on Evie’s longing to grow up