Entry 3: Emotional Reaction

In The Liars' Club, Mary's sister Lecia, who she cares for deeply but fights with constantly, is seriously injured by a jellyfish on a family outing to the beach. "The next instant I can see, they've somehow gotten all the tentacles off, and there are bright red welts around Lecia's leg in a swirly pattern, like she's been switch-whipped with willow branches" (116), writes Mary Karr of the extent of her sister's malady.

Lecia is subsequently taken to the hospital, an aspect of the plot that Mary Karr only vaguely remembers. As she describes it, "Mother and I are flying underwater like light-green phantoms. It reminds me of the Matisse painting that she'd razored out of one of her art books and taped up over the bathtub" (117). Personally, when I read the aforementioned quote, I felt an absolute click of understanding and total agreement. Most have experienced such a feeling, as though the world has turned blurry and rushed, as though the colors are literally blending together. Mary Karr, however, was able to describe this feeling in a way that few others could.

I began to feel highly emotional through reading this scene, as it is evidence of Mary's attachment to her sister. This is demonstrated by the following quote: "I wrapped my arms around my knees, bowed my head, and prayed to a god I didn't trust a prayer that probably went something like this: "Please let Lecia not die... Don't let them chop off her leg either..." (115). Although Lecia and Mary fight, argue, and perpetually squabble throughout the entirety of the novel, she is one of the most important people in Mary's life, and arguably the only one Mary can truly trust and rely on.

Mary and Lecia's day-to-day relationship is, of course, not permanently altered. Mary Karr writes, "Sometime during those transactions, she got mad at me and eventually got out of bed to stuff me once more into the dirty clothes hamper that pulled out from the bathroom wall... I wished her dead again, Lecia" (118). However, despite their ever-constant disagreements, it is now clear the depth of love for which Mary feels for Lecia. My emotional reaction to this was a "warm and fuzzy" sense of being touched by this sisterly devotion.