Ladies Of Missalonghi Essays - Novellas, The Ladies Of Missalonghi

Ladies Of Missalonghi The author of the book, The Ladies of Missalonghi, by Colleen McCullough describes to the reader how Missy, an unattractive woman, in a small town differs from Alicia. Missy, the daughter of Drusilla did not really have any self-confidence in herself. She would begin by wondering what she really looked like. The house owned only one mirror, in the bathroom, and it was forbidden to stand and gaze at one's reflection. Thus Missy's impressions of herself were hedged with guilt that she might have stayed too long gazing. Oh, she knew she was quite tall, she knew she was far too thin, she knew her hair was straight and dark, that her eyes were black-brown, and her nose sadly out of kilter due to a fall as a child. She knew her mouth drooped down at its left corner and twisted up at its right, but she didn't know how this made her rare smiles fascinating and her normal solemn expression a clown like tragicomedy(Pg.35-36). Missy didn't really pay close attention to what she really looked liked. It didn't matter how women appeared in those days as how it does today. They seem to think that it's evil to look at oneself in the mirror, and that it's forbidden for a woman to look at her own image. Life had taught her to think of herself as a very homely person, yet something in her refused to believe that entirely, would not be convinced by any amount of logical evidence. So each night she would wonder what she looked like(Pg.36). She knew what she really looked like, but her conscious was telling her different. It was like she had something in her that was really setting her apart from her family and friends. Even in her mid-twenties she was still treated unfairly. Her mother looked down at her and did not appreciate any of the things that she did. Any pip-dreams Drusilla might have harboured about Missy's growing up to snatch the ladies of Missalonghi out of penury via a spectacular marriage died before Missy turned then; she was always homely and unprepossessing(Pg. 39). What her mother pictured Missy to be had been vanished when Missy was about ten. Her mother lost fate in her before she even had a chance to prove her decency. Missy also was living in her own fantasy world. Her mother was against her from reading romance books because it was a sin to know about love. She was shatter inside for she felt she will never experience love, thus this made her even more interested in romance and love. She also grew up into a family where love was evil and bad. She also never felt that intimate passion that she always wanted to feel. Her mother may have made her believe in other things that was n't true, but she wasn't going to abide by it. Missy felt that she was in-slaved by her mother and her aunts. Her mother made her do all the chores even when she was so sick that she couldn't move out of bed. When she got so sick and fainted, her mother and aunt were worrying about who was going to do the chores. She was like Cinderella who was left behind to clean and do everything. Even when she left the house to go get something, she always thought about milking the cows and that she had to hurry back before her mother would get mad at her. She had such a big responsibility that she didn't have any time for anyone, not even for her self to enjoy. Oh let it not be brown! Prayed Missy. I want a scarlet dress! A lace dress in the sort of red that makes your eyes swim when you look t its that's what I want!?brown, Drusilla finished at last, and sighed(Pg.51). She wanted a brown dress out of all the colors she had to pick from. She always felt that she matched brown best aside from other colors. The color brown which made her figur e even more darken, is the color that she liked best. I understand how disappointing this must be, but the truth of the matter