The Lonely Hunter

“I wait, wanting her to draw me, to draw us, back to the safety of our other life, the life in which a father and mother hold ground” (Hall 7).

Once Meredith’s mother met Peter, she became more liberal and seemingly the complete opposite of how she had raised Meredith. Meredith is about sixteen years old and meeting Anthony for the first time on the beach as well as stepping out of her comfort zone and buying the bikini. When she got into the car with her mother, she expected for her mother to comment on the fact that she was showing too much skin but she never did. A change occurred in her mother from being the common conservative of the 1950s to more liberal and understanding of the younger generation, going from wearing the skirts she made to slacks and turtlenecks. Her mom had changed into a different person entirely and with her mother’s sudden change, she feels as though her entire life has changed as well. Meredith begins rebelling as well as she gets older; she starts wanting the stares from strangers as she walks on the beach, coming home later than her unenforced curfew and sneaking around with Anthony. Her mother stops noticing her daughter. Meredith started off her summer reading all alone on the beach and ended the summer pregnant from a man who didn’t want anything to do with her after the summer.