Setting the Stage: Vivienne Walker

The individual I have chosen to analyse for the purpose of this class is the character Vivienne Walker, from the novel and film, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."  her daughter, Siddalee is a successful play-write who lives in New York, but hails from the Louisiana bayous.  Sidda's childhood was shrouded in both love, abuse, and secrets... all of which she draws upon for inspiration for her plays. 

It is during an interview with a journalist that Sidda divulges a bit of her past but is inadvertently misquoted.  The publication which tells the world of her family's misfortunes (many of which Sidda herself does not completely understand or comprehend) drives a wedge between her and her mother, Vivienne, resulting in Sidda uninviting Vivienne to Sidda's upcoming wedding. 

To try and amend the feud, much of which stems from miscommunication and misunderstanding on both sides, Vivienne's life long friends (who also helped raise Sidda growing up) kidnap Sidda and take her back to Louisiana where they begin to share stories and divulge secrets from hers and her mother's past.  During this time, Vivienne is motivated heavily by shame, and a desire to protect her daughter from knowing the truth.

Sidda had always believed her mother's drinking had led Vivienne to become physically/emotionally/verbally abusive during a mental break and abandon her children.   It is revealed, however, that Vivienne had sought help for her drinking. Incompetent doctor, who thought he had a cure for alcoholism, ended up prescribing her his own blend of anti-psychotic medication which deteriorated Vivienne's mental state and resulted in fugue states, causing her to become violent and abusive.  Vivienne's absence during part of Sidda's childhood was in fact not abandonment but involuntary commitment in a mental facility.

At the end of the story, Vivienne's motivation then becomes making sure that her daughter understands everything fully to try and put the past behind them. 

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