Sharp Objects has many similarities to brave new world through society and the connection between John and Camille in Sharp Objects. Alcohol is use like some in Brave New World. Camille use alcohol to forget her trouble of her day like Lenina uses soma to forget hers. “Angie Papermaker was having the girls over for a Pity Party. [drinking] a bunch of wine, watches sad movies, cry gossip.” Gillian Flynn uses this as satire to show how shallow these rich people are like what Huxley did with Brave New World. Another factor that connects Brave New World’s society to Sharp objects was sex wasn’t viewed as intimate. Camille and her sister are thrown at guys and never truthfully get a connection with them. Even with the girls in her neighborhood who are married, they talk about how they use their husband’s for their own gain. Camille lost her virginity to three guys who shared her. The town cares just as little about its lust as Brave New World does. Wind Gap is also very shallow. Like Amma most of the town mostly cares about popularity and money. This makes Camille view them as two dimensional and bland like John does with the modern society within the Brave New World. Like John, Camille would rather live an unhappy life than a false happiness. She refuses to become like the women of her town slaves of popularity and judgement.
In most cases scars are a representation of strength and courage; however, in this case I believe that Camille’s scars are a representation of her fear and vulnerability. Her scars are the visible marks of past trauma. What makes Camille’s scars different from other peoples is that she inflicted them upon herself. This strips away the courage and leaves a more ominous tone to it. Occasionally within the story she will feel some of the words she had engraved in herself burn. This is because the life she is currently living mimics and brings back memories of her past. The scars are almost like PTSD certain words that trigger her into feeling something more.
Camille’s scars are very representing of her vulnerability and childlike behaviors. She is constantly trying to hide her scars and feels very ashamed when other people notice it. This is because the writing on her explains the hidden emotions she has. She is a child at heart always playing around with other men. Her scars represent how she never really grew up. Camille’s scars completely envelop her body except for the small of her back. She constantly has nightmares of her mother carving words into the small of her back. This is very significant to the symbolization of the scars and showing how it makes Camille a three dimensional character. The scars are a level of her sanity and hope. She still has that last bit of skin to represent her normal self. She had nightmares about her mother being the one whom cuts it because she believed that she would be the person who would cut the last strand of her sanity. I used a wonderful website called http://outofthefog.net that talks in great detail about many mental disorders and what it’s like to live with someone who has them. It would be greatly appreciated if you check out the site. All of my work comes from either that website or from Gillian Flinn’s novel Sharp Objects.
Amma Amma is a very diverse character within the novel. You sometimes see her as a sweet girl who is messed up by her mother. Throughout the book Camille is conflicted with what she should feel about her sister. In one hand she is very sweet and seems like she is caring, but in the other hand she is a morbid bully. This may be the case; however, altogether these personality traits add up to show that she has a personality disorder, specifically Histrionic Personality Disorder(HPD). Symptoms of HPD: Baiting: A provocative act used to solicit an angry, aggressive or emotional response from another individual. Amma is constantly trying to get people to react to what she is doing whether it’s for sex or getting her sister to lash out at her by tempting her. In the book she is always wearing short skirts or really tight shirts to let her breast show. This is especially shown in a part of the novel where Amma is at the pool with John where she is constantly acting seductive to try to anger him to attack her. That would have proved his uncontrollable anger. Belittling, Condescending and Patronizing - This kind of speech is a passive-aggressive approach to giving someone a verbal put-down while maintaining a facade of reasonableness or friendliness. Amma is always the center of attention amongst her friends. She is constantly putting them down, especially her friend Jodes the nicer and less pretty girl of the group. Raging, Violence and Impulsive Aggression - Explosive verbal, physical or emotional elevations of a dispute. Rages threaten the security or safety of another individual and violate their personal boundaries. One of the greatest events in the novel that shows her explosive violence is on page 59 when Amma begins to have a major tantrum over the pattern on the legs of her table being wrong. She then broke the table into five pieces to make her parents get a new one. Self-Aggrandizement - A pattern of pompous behavior, boasting, narcissism or competitiveness designed to create an appearance of superiority. This example is somewhat like baiting; Amma uses her sex appeal to try to get people to like her. She also believes that if she is not the center of attention or the best then she is nothing. She says on page 67 that she wished she could have been murdered in order for people to sympathize her. She thrives on perfection. On the same page she says that there is no more worry when you die because when you die you become perfect. Compulsive Lying - Compulsive Lying is a term used to describe lying frequently out of habit, without much regard for the consequences to others and without having an obvious motive to lie. A compulsive liar is someone who habitually lies. Every second in the novel Amma is lying. She is lying when she talks about how her and her friends knew nothing, blaming John on killing his sister, and convincing Camille that she is if someone who should be sympathized. She doesn’t have remorse for when she lies and doesn’t care about the consequences Bunny Boiling - Bunny Boiling is a reference to an iconic scene in the movie "Fatal Attraction" in which the main character Alex, who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, kills the family's pet rabbit and boils it on the stove. Bunny Boiling has become a popular reference to how people sometimes exhibit their rage by behaving destructively towards symbolic, important or treasured possessions or representations of those whom they wish to hurt, control or intimidate. This is probably the biggest proof of my theory. Amma killed three girls because of her jealousy because of the attention derailing from her. At first Amma Killed Ann Nash and Natalie Keene and put their teeth into the ivory floors of her mother’s room to prove the point that if Adora abandons her the floors of her room will be covered in teeth. It was a constant reminder to Amma that she had one the center of attention once again. She killed one more time; however this time it was for Camille. She became jealous of Lily, a friend she had made in Chicago, who she believed Camille was more found of. This made her kill and cut the girls hair, which she then braided into a rug and put it in Camille’s doll house room. |