Propitiation

“My inability to change the course of her life, to fix this awful flow of events, tangles confusedly with my inability to redress our past” (157).

As Meredith returns home to help her mother for the remaining part of her life after being diagnosed with MS, they find simple things to talk about but nothing meaningful or personal. Any memory of their past is something trivial such as her mother’s sewing but the way she treated Meredith is never brought into light. Both of them know that she doesn't have much more time to live and Meredith wants her to talk about their relationship since the day she was sent home from school. Meredith waits for it to be brought up but it never is. Her mother on the other hand has no plans of owning up to her mistakes and her poor parenting, she may find it unnecessary because she hasn't had to live with it the same way that Meredith has. Her decision to send her off didn't affect her the way it affected Meredith; she could also be seeing Meredith as okay now that she seems to have to life together. Meredith still loves her mother regardless of their past but talking about it and coming clean about their mistakes wouldn't be detrimental to their mother-daughter relationship.