The Beet Queen Essay, Research Paper
The Beet Queen is centered on one theme and that is abandonment. Because of this motif, the characters of this novel are affected. Karl, the abandonment of his mother left him looking for a motherly figure in his life. Mary, another victim of the abandonment became solid, hard head. And of course the abandonee, Adaelaide the cause of her children s suffering was short temper, without the love of her children. During the 40 plus years of their lives, the characters of Karl, Mary and Adalaide behave such way is becaue of the abandonment.
Karl, lacks the skill of survival is weak and fragile. He is regard as delicate to both of his sister and mother. When her mother left him, he became too dependence of her sister, however when his sister left him too, he felt depress as like the world is to collapse. All throughout his live, Karl needs people in constantly care of him. Now he has no one to rely on, he thinks about death. Giles is the first person Karl relies when he has no one to depend. Because of the abandonment of his mother, Karl need to find a mother figure to protect and care for for the rest of his live like the old days where her mother is present. He hopes by sleeping with Gils he could achieve his goal that he had the obligation to take care for the rest of his live just like his mother. I love you, Karl said , Oh, Jesus, it wasn t anything Gils said (pg. 25). When he founds that sleeping with Karl didn t assure the protection he wanted, he jump off the box car looking for a mother figure that he hopes so much.
Fleur Pillager to Karl is a motherly figure when she saves him from the box car accident. She pampers him like his mother does. And over all that, she lay herself, a crushing weight, and at first I was cold again and felt my lungs tightening, but then, from above, her warmth pressed down . However, when his wounds were all healed, he left him in an orphanage. First is his mother, then Giles, and now Fleur, Karl felt betrayed because all three characters to Karl is like a mother. Now that they abandon him he had an emotional scar in his head. Through the 40 years of the novel, Karl don t want the same fate happen as before, he wants to be the abandonee. Indeed, he did so, in his marriage of Celestine James and the birth of his daughter, he took off and became a travel salesman. He is nowhere to be found he traveled all over the country abandons his wife and his only daughter. This character behave this way is all thanks to Adelaide.
Mary, unlike Karl she is strong, dependent. When she found that her brother is missing, she didn t feel uneasy, instead she was relief because Karl is a liability to her. It was not that with Karl gone I had no one to protect me, but just the opposite (pg. 5). Mary was a revengeful person, when his mother left them, she think nothing of her. Unlike her weakly brother who longed for her return, she is the opposite; she wanted her to died fall flat on the ground in an airplane accident. She had no remorse of such thoughts because she doesn t love her any more after Adalaide left her.
The Abandonment left Mary strong and independence. When she lived in her aunt Fritzie s house she don t want to be a liability, she wanted to be essential to them all, so depended upon that they could never send her off. I cooked breakfast KI did it every morning util it became a habit to have me there. When she first arrive in Argus, she tried to gave them the blue valet box that held Adalaide s jewelry as a payment for her stay. This proves that she was solid and independence. When Adalaide write a letter to the family of Fritzie about her children well being, Mary forged Fritzie signature and wrote All three of you children starved dead . (Pg. 58) The abandonment made Mary lost completely trust in her mother. Now in her new environment she wanted to lose the past that brought her no comfort.