ENG 112
2/19/09
The Psychology behind Northern Lights
Upon reading Let the Northern Lights Erase your Name, any reader would become especially engrossed by the psychology behind the characters. It is especially difficult for one to understand the mother’s behavior and how she is able to detach herself from every social relationship. As stated in the book, “Every relationship with my [Clarissa’s] mother came with an expiration date”. This personality disorder is also somewhat present in her daughter, Clarissa, who quickly abandons and disregards her fiancé and friends, following in her mother’s footsteps. She specifically supports this with her statement, “Disappearing is nothing. I learned this from my mother”. Throughout the novel, the reader follows Clarissa and the changes of her personality. As the reader becomes more aware of her mother’s acts in the past, she becomes more aware of Clarissa’s personality and from where she acquires her tendencies.
At the beginning of the novel, Clarissa appears to be a normal woman, traveling because of some issue that she wanted to get away from. After venturing a little further, the reader begins to become aware of Clarissa’s past and why she is traveling to Helsinki. Multiple flashbacks expose the reader to Clarissa’s abnormal childhood and lunatic mother. As a child, Clarissa had never received much affection or attention from her mother. When Clarissa finally encounters her mother, her mother is cognizant of her treatment towards Clarissa but doesn’t seem to have any concern. Her reaction towards Clarissa’s interrogations was, “You poor thing. You always tried so hard to get a reaction from me”. Her condescending tone reveals her negligence for anyone but herself.
It seems as though Olivia, Clarissa’s mother, has a sociopathic behavior. She expresses shallow emotions, the tendency to move around a lot, irresponsibility, the lack of remorse, shame, or guilt, and many other qualities of one with sociopathic manners. As an adult, Clarissa finally crosses her mother and when Olivia finally acknowledges her, she says that she has nothing to say to her. She is not concerned when Clarissa tells her that her past husband has died. She was only interested in Clarissa’s departure. She has no care at all for anyone but herself. Clarissa’s resentment of her mother leads to her desire to detach herself from her past, but while also searching for her biological father.
The thoughts behind Clarissa are based on her mother, and how her mother responded to different situations. Her mother had psychologically damaged her, making Clarissa emotionally conflicted and lonely. Clarissa couldn’t even show much affection for her own fiancé; her relationship with Pankaj is very bland. She doesn’t show much interest in it, as she was able to leave him behind so easily without even caring to call or write to him. She didn’t truly love him; she even ignored him when he said, “I love you”. This further portrays her mother’s huge influence on her. All she can think about throughout the novel is how her mother would react to certain situations, if she would ever see her again, and how her mother behaved during her childhood.
Clarissa does not resemble the traits of a typical sociopath; however, her mother’s influence on her affected her personality. For instance, she is easily able to leave her fiancé and have a physical moment with another man shortly after. At some point, she does feel a dash of guilt, but not much. Also, Clarissa is not entirely friendly with other people. She has her own goal and doesn’t want emotional or personal obstacles to inhibit her quest. At the end of the novel, she easily forgets the life before her in order to begin a new life with new people. She remarries a man who knows nothing of her past and lies to him about everything easily. After everything she has been through, Clarissa finally develops into a woman somewhat similar to her mother. However, the reader will not get to find out if she leaves her family like her mother had done.
Clarissa despises her mother’s behavior, yet she yearned for her. She was obsessed with her mother’s actions and longed for her attention. Since Clarissa obtained some of her inane behavior from her mother, her mother may have developed her qualities from her parents. These characteristics could have been passed down- how each child was maltreated has a major effect on his or her life. People who have been abused as children or exposed to iratic behavior tend to carry out these problems as adults. They can become detached from the people around them- leading antisocial lives, with only a care for their own lives. It is intriguing to see how people change, and how their childhood and parents affect them.
