Outside Reading #3

A major conflict in Vanishing Acts by Jodi Piccoult is obviously the fact that Delia's father Andrew kidnapped her and is now on trial for his acts. The conflicts that result because of this event are far more about what the book is getting at. For example, because Delia has never had a mother and her father told her she was dead, Delia's first curiousity is "Do I have a mother?", which as it turns out she does. For Delia it is hard to confront the mother she was supposed to have because for all these years Delia has been creating the perfect mother in her head, and no real person could stand up to that delusion. Seeing her mother would also be the proof that her beloved father had lied to her for her entire life. You can see Delia's nervousness about meeting her mother that she just found out she had when Delia says, "When your mother is made out of dreams, anything real is bound to dissapoint you"(Piccoult 140). And as it turns out when Delia finally does meet her mother, Elise, she is dissapointed. She goes on to say, "She wasn't who I wanted her to be"(143). Delia realizes that sometimes in life the things you yearn for the most can just never live up to your expectations. It wasn't that Elise was a bum or a drunk, or even cold and unwelcoming....she was just normal. She wasn't the superhuman perfect mom that Delia was looking for, the person that Delia's dad had always been to her.

Another major conflict that Delia wrestles with is her feelings towards her father. He has always been one of the most major people in Delia's life, and now all of a sudden he has been ripped away. She can't explain this to her daughter Sophie. She can't tell Sophie that her grandfather has been taken away on kidnapping charges, it is just too hard for Delia. At one point during the trial Sophie asks, "Did he break a window?"(144) and Delia responds in her thoughts," No,I think. Just my heart"(144). You can see that Delia is torn between her love for her father and the lies that he told her. She has to ask herself the question are all those years of him being the best father imaginable erased because of one wrong thing that he has done? She also has to find it in herself to forgive him, so that maybe one day they can put this event behind them.

Eric has the challenge of trying to change who he is to live up to Delia's expectations of him. This becomes obvious when he says, "It's funny. I started drinking heavily because I wanted to see that expression in Delia's eyes when she looked only at me, and it's the same reason I quit drinking. She isn't just the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, she's the reason I have one"(29). He wants to be the person that Delia can depend on, who his daughter can depend on. He wants Delia to look up at him as the man who can do anything, but on the inside he knows that he can't do anything. He battles his drinking daily and has a hard time controlling himself. He even agrees to be the attorney for Delia's father even though he is completely unsure of himself and not particularly trained in this sort of law, all because he knows it will mean the world to Delia. His thought process is, "I am completely unequipped to be Andrew's attorney; I don't have the experience or the wits or the confidence. But I think of Delia, begging; believing that I am someone who was once a failure might still be a candidate for a hero"(48). Eric wants to prove that he can be the man Delia wants and needs him to be, no matter what the cost.