Anne Nichols Can Play, Elly Can't
Look at Anne Nichols playing with Lizzie in panels 1 and 2 of today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse. Ignoring the fact that little Christopher does not look anything like his new-run self, I find this playing to be the most interesting part of the strip. I look back over all the strips over the last year and there is not one strip that shows Elly playing with her children, like we see Anne doing with Lizzie today.
This reminds me of one of my all-time favourite strips, the one where Elly is playing with the Mayes’ kids and tells Mike it is just practice. Later on, Elly is never shown playing with her grandchildren the way she played with Rosemary and Paul Mayes. Originally, I had thought this as an effect of cynical older Lynn Johnston. It turns out that it is characteristic of Elly Patterson.
Given this characteristic, the strip takes on a new meaning. Seeing Anne play with her daughter, Elly thinks, “She thinks I’m irresponsible.” You see, it is not just that Elly wants to work, but that by working Elly is missing the opportunity to learn to be a better parent. The things that Anne is doing with Christopher and Lizzie, could have been done by Elly if she were willing to apply herself to being a better mom. The story of Elly Patterson is that she applies herself to nothing, and is therefore, good at nothing, not even playing with her kids.
This reminds me of one of my all-time favourite strips, the one where Elly is playing with the Mayes’ kids and tells Mike it is just practice. Later on, Elly is never shown playing with her grandchildren the way she played with Rosemary and Paul Mayes. Originally, I had thought this as an effect of cynical older Lynn Johnston. It turns out that it is characteristic of Elly Patterson.
Given this characteristic, the strip takes on a new meaning. Seeing Anne play with her daughter, Elly thinks, “She thinks I’m irresponsible.” You see, it is not just that Elly wants to work, but that by working Elly is missing the opportunity to learn to be a better parent. The things that Anne is doing with Christopher and Lizzie, could have been done by Elly if she were willing to apply herself to being a better mom. The story of Elly Patterson is that she applies herself to nothing, and is therefore, good at nothing, not even playing with her kids.
posted by howard at 11:52 PM
7 Comments:
Given this characteristic, the strip takes on a new meaning. Seeing Anne play with her daughter, Elly thinks, “She thinks I’m irresponsible.” You see, it is not just that Elly wants to work, but that by working Elly is missing the opportunity to learn to be a better parent. The things that Anne is doing with Christopher and Lizzie, could have been done by Elly if she were willing to apply herself to being a better mom. The story of Elly Patterson is that she applies herself to nothing, and is therefore, good at nothing, not even playing with her kids.
That's something I should have seen; how odd it is that she's supposed to control people's lives in the future because she doesn't know how to live in the here and now.
The story of Elly Patterson is that she applies herself to nothing, and is therefore, good at nothing, not even playing with her kids.
So true--she drifts through life half-assing everything she does and wonders why she feels so dissatisfied.
I found the playing the most interesting part of today's strip, too. :)
As an aside, whenever I see that old strip you linked, where Elly plays with Paul and Rosemary, I find it strange that seeing Elly playing with the kids makes Mike react defensively. If I had gone to a BBQ with my parents and my husband when we were engaged, and I saw my mother playing with the hosts' kids, my mind wouldn't have leaped to thinking that my mother was trying to send me a message of "when will you give me grandbabies?"
That's something I should have seen; how odd it is that she's supposed to control people's lives in the future because she doesn't know how to live in the here and now.
Even when Elly controls people’s lives in the future, she doesn’t do it particularly well.
aprilp_katje,
As an aside, whenever I see that old strip you linked, where Elly plays with Paul and Rosemary, I find it strange that seeing Elly playing with the kids makes Mike react defensively.
From a historic standpoint, the logical response from Mike would be, “Who is this woman and why didn’t she play with me like that when I was little?” or “What is mom trying to pull? This is way out-of-character for her. Is she trying to play up to Gordon and Tracey for some reason?”
If I had gone to a BBQ with my parents and my husband when we were engaged, and I saw my mother playing with the hosts' kids, my mind wouldn't have leaped to thinking that my mother was trying to send me a message of "when will you give me grandbabies?"
Yes, but you don’t think like a Patterson. If you see someone you know doing something completely out-of-character for them, you must naturally assume that it has something to do with you, and only you.
If I had gone to a BBQ with my parents and my husband when we were engaged, and I saw my mother playing with the hosts' kids, my mind wouldn't have leaped to thinking that my mother was trying to send me a message of "when will you give me grandbabies?"
Unfortunately, when one's mother-in-law is baby-obsessed, pretty much everything she does or says is either overtly or subtly "When are you two going have babies already?!" Every holiday, every family BBQ, every call home to say hi. "Isn't she pregnant yet?" "What are you waiting for?" "You were having such a good time with your nephew this weekend; I can't WAIT until you're a father!" et cetera.
Believe me, it's exhausting. I understand Mike's defensiveness entirely. And for Elly to chirp "I'm just PRACTICING!" is even nastier -- the assumption that Mike and Deanna are Going. To Have. Children. is ironclad and inevitable. They have no choice in the matter -- in their own futures. It's really insulting.
Anonymous,
…the assumption that Mike and Deanna are Going. To Have. Children. is ironclad and inevitable. They have no choice in the matter -- in their own futures. It's really insulting.
And then there was the way that it ended up happening. Mike didn’t have a choice in the matter, and Deanna announced her pregnancy so coincidentally at a time when Mike and Josef Weeder were planning to start a business together and used the pregnancy to squelch their plans. Considering the similarity between Elly’s pregnancy and Deanna’s pregnancy and Elly’s reaction “Oh I know you weren’t prepared”, it would make the conspiracy-minded sort of person (like me), think that Elly and Deanna had some conversations on the matter and how it should be done.And then there was Elly’s ultimate reaction to propel my conspiracy theory forward. The menfolk in this strip have no choice in the matter or in their futures.
Clio,
I find it interesting that John automatically equates "help" with "interfere".
And yet that is the running theme with this strip. It did not escape my notice that in the years that Deanna and Michael lived in Lovey’s apartment in Toronto, Elly Patterson visited them exactly 3 times, and each time it was only when she was invited over to help them out. As for your personal experience, it matches my own. In generations past, I think that was the commonplace experience for most Americans. The idea that the parents and only the parents would raise the kids is, to my understanding, a relatively recent phenomenon. It is interesting that Elly and John would ever consider that to be the preferred method.
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