Lives of Girls and Women

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to murder, death by suicide and suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse, including sexual interactions between an adult and a young teenager. The source text also includes outdated and offensive language surrounding race and mental health conditions that are reproduced only via quotations.

In Lives of Girls and Women, Ada and Del’s relationship illustrates how much the two women not only learn from each other but also how their relationship affects Del’s coming-of-age process. In “Princess Ida,” Del learns a lot about her mother’s past, but it comes from a point of contention due to her mother’s new job. Del claims, “I felt the weight of my mother’s eccentricities, of something absurd and embarrassing about her […] land on my own coward’s shoulders” (72). At a young age, Del’s embarrassment toward her mother’s job as a traveling salesperson derives from her mother’s decision to reject societal expectations of women. However, Del also claims to want “to shield” Ada away from the scrutiny of others, such as her aunts. By describing these conflicting emotions, Del illustrates a misunderstanding of Ada as well as her love for her mother. Ada seemingly makes these decisions to better their social status, which is not only a goal for herself but her children as well.