Dinnie's psychological maladjustment in Sharon Creech's Bloomability

Bloomability

First Life

The narrator, Domenica Santolina Doone, or Dinnie, tells the reader about her home life and her family. All her life, Dinnie has been forced to travel from place to place because of her father's transient employment. By the age of 12, Dinnie has been raised without roots and without a family outside of her mother and father, although the father is rarely around. She has also been frequently taught that the mother's family cannot be trusted. The grandmother that she knows comments negatively on the family arrangement. She is quite right to do so as it quickly appears that the older sister is pregnant and married, the older son is in prison, the father is away, and the mother is devoted to her husband to the point that she gives up on her own dreams in order to make him happy.

Dinnie has been raised under the false belief that the above scenario is normal for most families. Her father has ensured that she has little chance of growing up psychologically balanced because he has not given her roots. Instead, he has instilled in her and the family that there are things to fear everywhere, including her maternal grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Her mother is by no means immune from responsibility for Dinnie's maladjustment. Rather than have ambitions or utilizing her gifts, she has taught her daughter's that their own dreams and abilities do not matter so long as they have a husband.

Ch. 3: An Opportunity

At the train station in Zurich, Dinnie cannot help but compare her Aunt Sandy to her own mother. She states the Aunt Sandy is better dressed although she sounds and resembles the mother. Further, she compares her father to her Uncle Max. The uncle and aunt have bought her clothes and new shoes and the kinds of things that she could only have dreamed of while impoverished. Also, she compares her journey in the train station with her present situation. Her mother and father had never minded when she wandered off, feeling that she could handle things on her own, but Sandy and Max fear her getting lost, worrying that she might get hurt or separated from the adults. When she realizes that she won't be going home again, she postulates that either she is being punished by her mother or that there is simply no room for her with the new baby.

Children who are abused quite frequently take the side of the abuser and defend that person to the end. This is the case of Dinnie Coone. She cannot comprehend that her parents were bad or inadequate. Her comparisons between Max and Sandy and her parents are psychological tools that she uses to maintain her image of the parents in the face of such obviously more caring individuals. Another hallmark of the abused child is assuming that they are to blame for their mistreatment. Obviously this happens in Dinnie's case because she assumes that being sent to Switzerland was a form of punishment or abandonment.

Ch. 10: Complaints

Lila King is a terribly unkind girl who goes to school with Dinnie. Lila is unpleasant to everyone and consequently she is very much disliked. There are no friends to comfort her when she starts to cry. Unlike Dinnie, Lila has very few people to care about her, if anyone. There is no Uncle Max and no Aunt Sandy to take care of her. She is all alone, or at the very least she feels all alone. It is pity that has Dinnie invited Lila to her home for dinner.

Lila is not a kind person and the reader comes to understand that she is not a typical bully. It is not true unkindness that leads Lila to behave the ways that she does. Rather, it is total and abject isolation. She is what Dinnie could very well have become. Leading the life that she did before Switzerland Dinnie spent quite a great deal of time alone, unless she was with her mother or sister. The rest of the time, she was by herself, just like Lila.

Ch. 11: It's So Rude

Dinnie invites her friend Lila over to dinner. Unlike how her parents may have reacted, Dinnie's uncle and aunt merely accept the situation and prepare for their evening. They do this even though Lila is a frequent complainer and not all together kind or genial. Lila is pleasant until she bursts out about disliking the Japanese. When Aunt Sandy suggests that her complaints may have to do with Japanese culture, Lila demands that the Japanese conform to American ideas, even though they are all in Switzerland. The girl does not care for any persons outside of other Americans it seems and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max try to make her rethink her perspective. She is racially insensitive and does not seem at all inclined to change her opinion.

Lila is not a kind young lady. She dislikes the Japanese because they will not look at her. Lila is taking Spanish as a foreign language although she decides that she is no longer interested in that because she does not like Spanish people. The Italians are also displeasing to her because they are too flashy. She represents the type of person that Max and Sandy would not like their niece associating with, yet the two adults allow Dinnie to make her own decisions regarding her friends. This is a massive difference between the treatment of her parents and her new living arrangement.

Ch. 23: Downfelling

Lila's personality has changed drastically from the time of her dinner with Dinnie to the point where they returned from St. Moritz. This seems odd to most of the students but not to Dinnie who equates the change with the beauty that they have seen. Only by experiencing the view and the trees first hand could someone understand the impact such a thing could have. While on that vacation, the children had gone skiing and enjoying themselves in the snow. With the pleasure of the vacation, there was also the muscle ache of all the physical exercise. The children frequently tease her about falling down in the snow. However, this does not upset Dinnie at all because it is a kindly form of teasing instead of the antagonistic kind which might happen between enemies.

Lila has stopped being the complaining, unpleasant person from earlier in the novel. Instead, she is pleasant and a much kinder, gentler friend. There is also a pronounced change in Dinnie at this point in the story. She is introspective and she is also more careful about what she sees and how important these visions are. She is learning to be independent and to think for herself. This is very important as it reflects how altered Dinnie is from the subservient girl in the beginning.

Ch. 40: Two Pistols

Dinnie gets the opportunity to see Lila's mother. She is extremely glamorous and wears fur. It is evident that this is an extremely wealthy family. The woman orders the people around whether or not they work for the hotel that they are staying in or if they are just normal people. Dinnie and Uncle Max wind up carrying her bags. She demands to see her daughter and orders everyone around as though she were a queen. Lila has determined to stay with Dinnie and does not want to be swept away with her mother, although she has no choice in the matter. Ultimately, Lila's mother wins out and the child is forced from her chosen home.

Lila is a product of her mother. Mrs. King screams about people not speaking English, just like Lila did earlier in the story. Everyone is her servant even though Max and Sandy are her peers. It is not surprising that Lila was such an unpleasant child. She is proof of what may have happened to Dinnie had not Max and Sandy intervened.

Ch. 41: Hats and Bugs

Dinnie has taken up writing in order to pass the time. She uses writing to express herself and to admit her inner feelings. Besides her own missives, Dinnie has also taken to using writing as a form of communication with other people. Young Dinnie also writes back and forth various correspondences through the course of the novel. One, signed Aunt Tillie, is full of nonsense and adventure. In the final part of the chapter, there is also a valentine that has been sent to Dinnie from her mother. The valentine is not received until April.

This episode is very interesting in terms of understanding the relationship that Dinnie now has with her mother. Dinnie's mom makes an attempt at affection by sending her daughter the valentine. She shows that she has some love and concern for her child. However, the valentine is also two months late. Besides this, the only message that she has inscribed is writing how she meant to send it in February. There is no sign of love or of missing her daughter.

Ch. 42: Fishing

In Lugano, Dinnie is reflecting on the sites that she witnesses following an April rain. She and her friend see flowers and trees and many other beautiful things. Dinnie watches the scenery as they travel, focusing on blue water. Everything in her world now is beautiful and clean and good. The children, Dinnie and her friend Guthrie, head to a lake to go fishing. Neither child is afraid of their adventure. They are not even afraid of the strangers that they encounter on their journey.

Dinnie is no longer alone in the world. She can travel in Switzerland and Italy and ski and fish without fear that she will be left behind. No longer is she a piece of luggage for her mother and father to carry along whenever they feel the need to take her from place to place. For the first time in her life, Dinnie has relationships with other people. She has a friend like Guthrie, adults like Uncle Max and Aunt Sandy who love her, and the sense of self she requires to continue on into adulthood.

Ch. 43: Forking Roads

Dinnie is given the choice between returning to America for the summer and then coming back to Switzerland in the fall, or she could return to America and stay there, permanently living with her parents. Not only is Dinnie leaving Switzerland, but she is graduating from middle school. From this point on, she will no longer be a child but firmly on the path to adulthood. Her choice is not revealed but it does not really matter which path Dinnie chooses. Instead of the confused, self-conscious little girl who arrived, Dinnie is instead a strong, independent child who is ready to make her own choices. She does not see her aunt and uncle as kidnappers. Still, she is a devoted daughter and cares about her parent's opinions and decisions, even if she no longer feels that she must be dependent on them.

Upon returning to her family, it is uncertain what will happen to Dinnie. The reader cannot predict whether she will return to Switzerland or not. She may stay with her mother and potentially her father or she might come back to continue her education. No matter what, Dinnie, has completely changed from the person she was at the beginning of the novel. It is clear though that from the information that is provided, from the change in the character, that whatever path she chooses, she will not allow the people in her life to destroy her.

Works Cited:

Creech, Sharon. Bloomability. New York, NY: Harper. 1999. Print.