Like Mother, Like Mother

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, child abuse, rape, suicidal ideation and self-harm, and physical and emotional abuse.

Zelda never owned much jewelry, just a wedding ring, cameo pin, “delicate gold chain” (17), and gold watch, and all but the wedding ring once belonged to her mother. The chain’s delicacy symbolizes Zelda herself, with her golden hair and her youthful innocence that was so early crushed by Aldo’s brutality. She was just 17 when they married, and he was 10 years her senior. Polo remembers her being often covered in bruises, and she was only allowed to leave the house to go to the doctor. Zelda could not fight Aldo, and this reduced her to tears that went on for years, demonstrating the helplessness that was so overwhelming she tried to take her own life and that of her unborn child. She was young, naïve, and fragile, her purity and sensitivity symbolized by the delicate design of the gold necklace.

Though Bubbe claims Zelda would want her to have the jewelry, Lila disagrees, and when she goes to college, Lila takes all but the wedding ring. She gives the pin and watch to Clara but “kept the necklace.