Elizabeth Patterson: Bride and Space Cadet
As in the June 17, 2008 strip, today’s For Better or For Worse strip illustrates a trend when it comes to talking to Elizabeth about marriage…she doesn’t listen. In the June 17 strip, Deanna Patterson talks to Elizabeth about how marriage is a real challenge and how you go from lovers to the big list of other things. To which a very wide-eyed Elizabeth responds with the non sequitur that she wants Deanna’s babysitter. Likewise in today’s strip, Elly is the one delivering the marriage lecture to Elizabeth, to which Elizabeth responds with a question about wine serving after several panels of a blank-faced Elizabeth staring out into nowhere. I am quite familiar with this pattern of conversation. My son has Asperger’s Syndrome and when you talk to him about something he does not find interesting, he stops paying attention to you and starts talking about something which does interest him. It can be very frustrating to have a conversation with him, to have to lead him back to what you were trying to say over and over again. As I tell my wife, “I have to tell him something 5 times for him to hear it once.”
Over on April’s Real Blog, whenever Elizabeth does something like this, I usually bring out Shannon Lake to point out that Elizabeth is acting like someone who is Special Needs like she is, and to ask April if Elizabeth has been tested for it. Frankly, it has been surprising how many times I have pulled that particular joke out over the last 2 years since Elizabeth returned to Milborough.
Of course, Lynn Johnston is not really going for the “Elizabeth is special needs” intentionally. Now we have seen the second marriage lecture Elizabeth has spaced out on, it seems pretty clear the point Lynn Johnston is making is that Elizabeth does not want to be lectured about marriage. During her conversation with Deanna in particular, she kept saying things like “Anthony and I have been friends for a long time, Dee.” Or “We’re both good swimmers, Dee.” The subtext from my point of view is that both Elly and Deanna think Elizabeth has not considered the step she is about to take fully. I would have to agree with them.
However, this is not the first time Elizabeth has received this lecture. Back on May 27, 2006, Vivian Crane gave Elizabeth almost the same kind of lecture with respect to her dealings with Paul Wright. Elly says Elizabeth should be “faithful and loving and honest and strong.” Vivian thought, “He’s building his future around you and a building needs a firm foundation.” It’s one of Lynn Johnston’s better plot points that she is not afraid of the older women in Elizabeth’s life trying to point out that her flighty nature will destroy her relationships. That has certainly been the case in the past. If Elizabeth had stayed in Mtigwaki, Paul Wright would have proposed to her, considering the way he was shown to feel about her.
It is almost as if Deanna and Elly are saying, “Well, now we finally got Elizabeth together with our choice of Anthony Caine, what can we do to make sure Elizabeth does not self-destruct?” And this is a reasonable fear. The woman is freaking out over her wedding when it is a month away and everything appears to be going smoothly. I liked today’s strip. It is evidence that the Patterson women have the same concerns about Elizabeth and Anthony that the readers do. And best of all, they have no idea how to get through to Elizabeth.
Over on April’s Real Blog, whenever Elizabeth does something like this, I usually bring out Shannon Lake to point out that Elizabeth is acting like someone who is Special Needs like she is, and to ask April if Elizabeth has been tested for it. Frankly, it has been surprising how many times I have pulled that particular joke out over the last 2 years since Elizabeth returned to Milborough.
Of course, Lynn Johnston is not really going for the “Elizabeth is special needs” intentionally. Now we have seen the second marriage lecture Elizabeth has spaced out on, it seems pretty clear the point Lynn Johnston is making is that Elizabeth does not want to be lectured about marriage. During her conversation with Deanna in particular, she kept saying things like “Anthony and I have been friends for a long time, Dee.” Or “We’re both good swimmers, Dee.” The subtext from my point of view is that both Elly and Deanna think Elizabeth has not considered the step she is about to take fully. I would have to agree with them.
However, this is not the first time Elizabeth has received this lecture. Back on May 27, 2006, Vivian Crane gave Elizabeth almost the same kind of lecture with respect to her dealings with Paul Wright. Elly says Elizabeth should be “faithful and loving and honest and strong.” Vivian thought, “He’s building his future around you and a building needs a firm foundation.” It’s one of Lynn Johnston’s better plot points that she is not afraid of the older women in Elizabeth’s life trying to point out that her flighty nature will destroy her relationships. That has certainly been the case in the past. If Elizabeth had stayed in Mtigwaki, Paul Wright would have proposed to her, considering the way he was shown to feel about her.
It is almost as if Deanna and Elly are saying, “Well, now we finally got Elizabeth together with our choice of Anthony Caine, what can we do to make sure Elizabeth does not self-destruct?” And this is a reasonable fear. The woman is freaking out over her wedding when it is a month away and everything appears to be going smoothly. I liked today’s strip. It is evidence that the Patterson women have the same concerns about Elizabeth and Anthony that the readers do. And best of all, they have no idea how to get through to Elizabeth.
posted by howard at 9:32 PM
10 Comments:
hoard,
It’s one of Lynn Johnston’s better plot points that she is not afraid of the older women in Elizabeth’s life trying to point out that her flighty nature will destroy her relationships.
It's a legitimate fear. Elizabeth is shallow and self-absorbed and seems to not have the will or ability to look past the surface of things. What is more, she has no real tenacity, giving up at the first little reverse even though anyone else can see that she could get what she wanted if she tried.
That being said, it takes a lot of doing on the part of her elders to get her to see that because of another of her crippling character flaws: her reckless refusal to pay attention to warnings or criticism. She changed the subject today because, to her, Elly wasn't trying to give her good advice, she was trying to make her feel bad about herself.
I wonder if the strip will not end in a wedding or if Elizabeth will have a "road to Damascus" conversion because she does not seem ready to marry as it stands now..
I always thought that Dee and Michael left a false role model with Liz - Dee in fact did not live with Mike before marrying - they have never told Liz the truth of the first cerremony - Liz should have known this as she was young and making bad decsions in part based on their deception.
anonymous,
(T)hey have never told Liz the truth of the first (ceremony)...
That's a good point. So far as I've been able to determine, Liz is the only member of the family who doesn't know she was attending a sham wedding nor that her parents would be fine if she were to decide against having a Big White Wedding. As such, she doesn't realize that she has a viable alternative to this madness.
dreadedcandiru2,
Liz is the only member of the family who doesn't know she was attending a sham wedding nor that her parents would be fine if she were to decide against having a Big White Wedding.
I went back through the old strips to confirm your statement and it’s true. Elizabeth was the first member of the family to know that Mike and Deanna were living together, but in no other strip do we see her informed of Mike and Deanna’s marriage #1. And then she moves in with Eric, thinking she has her mother’s support, which she most assuredly did not.
It’s ironic that the secret of marriage #1 was kept from the persons who needed to know it the most. Elizabeth needed to know that her view of her brother living with his fiancée was not considered to be acceptable by her parents.
Mira Sobinski has been portrayed as one of the few characters in the strip who takes her religion seriously and actually told Deanna she was living in sin. Despite this, she still dropped $50,000 on a sham wedding, that could have been easily spent elsewhere. Had she known the secret, then she would have had a higher opinion of her daughter’s moral character. Although she would have been royally pissed at her daughter for not allowing her the opportunity to splurge on her wedding, Mira Sobinski still gave thousands of dollars to her other daughter who eloped, to buy her house, so there is some evidence she would have gotten over that anger. The story presented was that the secret was kept so Mira could have her dream wedding for her daughter, and that led to all kinds of fighting and bitterness between her and Deanna. But why? It was a sham wedding. If they were having it to satisfy Mira, then why didn’t Deanna go along with every little thing she said? Obviously Deanna wanted to have her cake and eat it too, at the expense (literally) of her mother. This was the beginning of a series of cruelties that Deanna and Mike put on Mira that have always left a sour taste in my mouth when I think about them.
anonymous,
I wonder if the strip will not end in a wedding or if Elizabeth will have a "road to Damascus" conversion because she does not seem ready to marry as it stands now..
Elizabeth is struck blind on the way to Milborough and hears a voice saying, “Why have you persecuted me, Elizabeth? Have you no pity on the countless readers who have to endure your loveless romance, courtship and marriage story? Say you love Anthony to his face and your sight will be restored.” That would be different.
Yup. Liz is refusing to think about the realities of the commitment she is making. Too bad nobody will come straight out and say, "Liz, you are not fit to be a wife, let alone a stepmother."
BTW, sounds like John and Elly are shelling out for a big do. I've been to weddings on a budget. They don't provide drinks for anyone beyond water at those events. (Maybe a keg of beer.) The only time I ever was served drinks at a wedding was at shindigs that cost over $20,000. I have only ever heard of wine served freely to guests at extremely expensive weddings (more than $30,000). Drinks for guests are one of the first things to get cut when those paying are on a budget.
Not to mention, the fact that this is all being done last-minute would mean that the Pattersons would have to pay a premium to secure a caterer, a venue, etc.
qnjones,
Liz is refusing to think about the realities of the commitment she is making.
She's been that way for years. She refused to see that Eric was disloyal, that dangling Warren in front of Paul was a bad idea, that he had an ulterior motive in flying her up to Mitgwaki and that people who were as biased against Therese as she was would be the last people she could trust to get an honest accounting of the past. She was never encouraged to think growing up and it's making her life a misery.
qnjones,
Too bad nobody will come straight out and say, "Liz, you are not fit to be a wife, let alone a stepmother."
No one is going to say that. In fact between Elly and Deanna, there have been no references to stepmotherhood. Only Candace called out Elizabeth on her tendency to want to recycle (i.e. take on the thrown away Anthony and Françoise). Elly mentioned building a family, and Deanna mentioned going from lovers to parents. Neither one seems to take Françoise into consideration at all. After all, Liz won’t go from lover to parent, she is instant parent. She has an instant family.
However, I will say that the tone of the wedding advice from Deanna and Elly have both taken the form of warnings, No one has said, “I know you’re going to have a happy marriage. You and Anthony are so good together.” John, on finding out said, “I think Elizabeth’s made a wise choice.” Elly on finding out said, “I’m so pleased, honey! I was hoping that you and Anthony would get together!” In other words, they compliment Elizabeth for picking the guy they wanted her to pick.
So what you have is (1) Elizabeth picked the right guy. (2) Elizabeth needs to be warned about what marriage is like and reminded what a commitment a wedding is supposed to represent. While this is not saying, “Liz, you are not fit to be a wife,” it is very close to saying, “Liz, you are not yet fit to be a wife.”
Drinks for guests are one of the first things to get cut when those paying are on a budget.
Your comments about the cost of alcohol are right on. At my wedding, we did one glass of wine for toasting per person, and it was a lot of money. The only budget weddings I have been to where wine was freely available, was where there was no caterer (potluck dinner) and bridal party just bought a bunch of wine bottles and said, “Serve yourself.” That was a pretty dangerous choice as it turned out, because some of the guests at that wedding got excessively and loudly drunk. If the alcohol is served, then there is someone to monitor excess drinking.
Not to mention, the fact that this is all being done last-minute would mean that the Pattersons would have to pay a premium to secure a caterer, a venue, etc.
I am still thinking, Empire Hotel with Anne Nichols and they get it for free.
dreadedcandiru2,
She refused to see that Eric was disloyal, but she still cried about it. So she knew.
Elizabeth is often shown having a belief in things, like Eric, when she knows better. Of course, she had a job drop in her lap with no effort and little Francie wanted to adopt her after a single ice cream; so it’s easy to see why she could be confused on the point.
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