Daniela Alvarado Carballo
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
The book Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn has many themes. These themes relate to our world today and reveal a lot about the human condition. Some of the many themes of the book are: mental illnesses, jealousy, family, loss of innocence, and the destruction of one’s life, but the main theme is probably the tragic destruction of one's life. The theme is developed throughout the whole story starting from Adora, who is the mother of the main character Camille, who having a perfect life ruined it by getting pregnant at the young age of 16 by a boy who she just met that was visiting the town she lived in. She also ruined her life even more with the decisions she made with her daughters. She did not raise them well by not giving them proper love and care. She also furthered ruined her life by killing her second oldest child, Marian, by poisoning her because she wanted to take care of her which is later revealed in the book. This is all shown when Camille thinks her mother is done mourning over Marian by taking her into town and playing with her but once they get back home Camille says that “she’d trail off to her room like an unfinished sentence, and I would sit outside with my face pressed against the door and replay the day in my head , searching for clues to what I'd done to displease her.”(Gill Flynn.Sharp Objects. Pg97). This shows how Adora didn't show proper love because she would show it for a while like a show for the world to see but then leave Camille thinking what she did wrong for her mother to start ignoring her again. This probably contributed to the own self destruction of Camille. Also Adora didn't show proper care because Camille once said that her mother would pinch and bite her while she was sleeping, and justified it by saying it was something that her mother, Joya, would do to make sure she wasn't dying and that she did it for the same reason. This not only shows how Camille was abused and but how Adora was also abused by her own mother and that contributed with Adora’s self destruction by ruining her daughter. Another form Adora shows the theme of the tragic destruction of one’s life is when she said “I think I finally realized why I don't love you”(Gill Flynn. Sharp Objects. Pg148). She just admitted that she never loved Camille in which she ruins even more that perfect life she has and how she has never felt any love in her life. She also says when she feels the only place on Camille’s back that is free of scars “The only place you have left’ she whispered at me. Her breath was cloying and musky, like air coming from a spring well. ‘Yes.’ ‘Someday I'll carve my name there.’”(Gill Flynn. Sharp Objects. Pg149). This pretty much demolished any relationship with Camille and it's ...
