Family Dysfunction

The central relationship portrayed in the story is that of Isis and Grandma Potts, and the narrative uses this relationship as a platform for exploring the causes and effects of family dysfunction. To that end, the exact structure of Isis’s nuclear family is relevant, as it determines the general power dynamics at play in the story. Isis is 11 years old and appears to be the youngest of the family. Her brother Joel is slightly older. Their father, John Watts, is a widower, and Grandma Potts is the mother of Isis’s deceased mother. These four characters live in the same house, and Grandma Potts appears to be the matriarch, self-appointed to strictly enforce Isis’s discipline. However, the story does allude to the fact that John Watts may be an overruling force: “The noon hour brought John Watts, the widowed father, and this excused...