Today Will Be Different

“If I’m forced to be honest, here’s an account of how I left the world last week: worse, worse, better, worse, same, worse, same. Not an inventory to make one swell with pride. I don’t necessarily need to make the world a better place, mind you. Today, I will live by the Hippocratic oath: first do no harm.

How hard can it be? Dropping off Timby, having my poetry lesson (my favorite part of life!), taking a yoga class, eating lunch with Sydney Madsen, whom I can’t stand but at least I can check her off the list (more on that later), picking up Timby, and giving back to Joe, the underwriter of all this mad abundance.”

Eleanor’s description of her previous week shows her tendency to cause problems for herself and others, developing The Gap Between Who One Is and Who One Wishes to Be and The Tension Between the Self and Family. Eleanor’s rhetorical “How hard can it be?” shows how much she underestimates the difficulty of self-improvement and foreshadows the derailment of most of Eleanor’s plans for the day.

“As everybody knows, being raised Catholic with half a brain means becoming an atheist.”

Eleanor’s assertion that Joe’s atheism is a natural conclusion to his Catholic upbringing highlights her own perception of religion as ridiculous and illogical. As she reveals later, this perception was one of the things that Eleanor and Joe bonded over when they first met. Joe’s conversion to Christianity therefore becomes a point of contention for Eleanor, forcing her to confront The Tension Between the Self and Family and find a way to move forward.

“And in a personal touch, this young, fit mom had attached a lanyard with her child’s name in baby blocks.

I turned my head sideways. What was the name?

D-E-L-P-H-I-N-E.

I froze.”

This passage introduces the “Delphine” baby blocks as a symbol of The Tension Between the Self and Family. It shows the impact of Eleanor’s falling out with Ivy and hints that she stole the lanyard with these blocks because they reminded her of her lost relationship. It also shows the unwise and unethical things Eleanor does when she refuses to acknowledge her emotional distress.

“One thing that happens when you have an alcoholic for a parent is you grow up the child of an alcoholic. For those of you who aren’t children of alcoholics, hear me now and believe me later: It’s the single determining factor in your personality.”

This quote highlights The Tension Between the Self and Family by showing that Eleanor’s traumatic upbringing has had lasting repercussions. She later cites her father as the reason why she became so messy and chaotic in her personal life and why she struggles to trust other people, including her husband, Joe, after he disappears. This quote also foreshadows the novel’s reveal of the impact her father’s alcohol addiction had on her sister, Ivy, who joined a cult, had an affair with a shaman, and then married a controlling man.

“Unlike many stories about childhood, The Flood Girls feels immediate and present-tense urgent. Though it’s dense with period detail, a nostalgia trip it is not. The vantage is frank and unsentimental. That Eleanor Flood is able to infuse these ominous, cryptic images with so much warmth is a rare trick, and I look forward to seeing more.”

This quote shows an outside perspective of The Flood Girls from Daniel Clowes, who nominates it for the Minerva Prize. His assessment hints at the childhood trauma portrayed within the graphic novel, developing The Tension Between the Self and Family. The Flood Girls functions as a symbol for this theme throughout the novel.

“Before I fell asleep at night, I’d cycle through the various intonations in my head, preparing myself for this awful, inevitable moment.

I don’t have a sister.

I don’t have a sister.

I don’t have a sister.

I don’t have a sister.”

Eleanor’s reluctant acknowledgment of Ivy shows that she no longer has a choice but to address her grief. The quote also supports The Flood Girls as a symbol of The Tension Between the Self and Family. Like her relationship with Ivy, Eleanor tries to pretend that the book doesn’t exist until Spencer forces her to acknowledge it.

“For clarity: I do have a sister. Her name is Ivy. I created The Flood Girls as a gift for her.”

Eleanor’s reluctant acknowledgment of Ivy shows that she no longer has a choice but to address her grief. The quote also supports The Flood Girls as a symbol of The Tension Between the Self and Family. Like her relationship with Ivy, Eleanor tries to pretend that the book doesn’t exist until Spencer forces her to acknowledge it.

“On Joe’s desk. A telescope of some kind. Gray, the size of a demi-baguette, on crouching insect legs. It was aimed out the window.

How bizarre.”

This passage foreshadows Joe’s secret spiritual journey from atheism to Christianity and the conflict between Eleanor and Joe when she learns of his conversion. The scope thus becomes a symbol for The Tension Between the Self and Family.

“That was happiness. Not the framed greatest hits, but the moments between. At the time, I hadn’t pegged them as being particularly happy. But now, looking back at those phantom snapshots, I’m struck by my calm, my ease, the evident comfort with my life.”

Eleanor acknowledges The Function of Family in Healing and Growth when she thinks back to her memories of Joe and Timby and realizes that the moments she took for granted in the past are the ones she cherishes most in the present moment. This realization helps her understand how her habits impact her loved ones, which will later help her resolve The Tension Between the Self and Family and bridge The Gap Between Who One Is and Who One Wishes to Be.

“Joe had a nickname for Ivy: ‘the Monstrance.’ On certain Catholic holy days, the Eucharist was displayed in a golden-sunburst monstrance where worshipful eyes gazed at it around the clock. Joe, an altar boy, had often been tasked with the graveyard shift. In Bucky, this living monstrance, Ivy, found her perpetual adoration.

Eleanor’s shoulders melted. Something deep in her jaw loosened. Ivy was going to be okay.”

Eleanor describes Joe’s use of “the monstrance” in Catholicism as a metaphor for Ivy, who has always wanted to be loved and adored by others, especially men. Ivy’s charm, like the monstrance, draws many people to her throughout her life, including Bucky, which reassures Eleanor that Ivy will be happy until she learns Bucky’s true character.

“Which was why, when Bucky Fanning phoned the Tylers with a request to get married at Sherwood Forest and was refused, once, twice, and three times, after which he got on a plane to Atlanta and drove the seven hours to Charles City County to make a personal appeal and the Tylers said yes, every toast at the rehearsal dinner mentioned this as quintessential Bucky.”

This passage shows that Bucky is a man who will go to great lengths to achieve his goals and obtain what he wants. This talent later tears the sisters apart, with Bucky using his persuasiveness, and possibly even threats, to keep Ivy with him and drive Eleanor out of their lives for good. Though Eleanor initially admires Bucky for his perseverance, he eventually uses this trait against her.

“‘Don’t you see?’ Lester said, drunk and not making sense. ‘He’s trying to plant your fingerprints on his crime scene.’”

Lester’s drunken call to Eleanor provides a third perspective in the story to further show Bucky’s true nature, with Lester warning Eleanor that Bucky is using his money and persuasive skills to control Ivy and turn her against Eleanor. Lester’s warning is later proven right, with Bucky succeeding in his plan and causing Eleanor to cut Ivy out of her life as a result.

“She is survived by grandson Barnaby Fanning, the historian, and his two children, John-Tyler and Delphine.”

The obituary for Armanito Trumbo Charbonneau mentions Bucky and Ivy’s son, John-Tyler, as well as a daughter, Delphine. This reminder of Ivy detracts from what is supposed to be a fun vacation with Joe and reveals that Eleanor stole the “Delphine” lanyard because it reminded her of her sister.

“‘I worry I haven’t been paying enough attention to your dad,’ I said.

‘It’s okay, Mama. That’s just how you are.’

‘I don’t want to be that way,’ I said, tears filling my voice. ‘I really don’t.’”

Eleanor’s exchange with Timby in the car and her subsequent emotional breakdown supports The Gap Between Who One Is and Who One Wishes to Be, showing that Eleanor knows she needs to be more attentive to Joe and Timby. Timby accepts her as she is, but Eleanor wants to be better for them and herself.

“Building a wall around Ivy, Bucky, and the shambles of the past: it seemed like the only solution at the time. And for years, it had worked. Kinda! But today the wall buckled.

I stood up. My heart was as heavy as an asteroid.

I’d turn fifty in May. My accomplishments? To most people, they’d be the stuff of pipe dreams. Everything I’d set out to achieve in this lifetime, I’d done, with grace to spare. Except loving well the people I loved the most.”

Eleanor realizes that even though she has been enormously successful in her career and has accomplished and seen many wonderful things, her personal life has suffered because of her chaotic, careless behaviors. She also acknowledges that the walls she put up after her mother’s death, her father’s addiction, and her sister’s estrangement harmed her, though she felt like it was the only way to deal with the pain of these experiences. She sees now, however, that she needs to be there for her family before she loses the people she values the most.

“‘All in God’s plan,’ Vonte said.

‘You mean all in the Sanders Splint Supply’s plan,’ Joe said.”

The exchange between Vonte Daggatt and Joe establishes a contrast between Vonte’s strong Christian faith and Joe’s atheism. Vonte attributes his success and performance to God, while Joe attributes it to aspects in the physical world, such as Vonte’s splint. The conflict over the splint later in the chapter leads Joe to a violent confrontation with the yoga teacher, which in turn leads to his conversion.

“‘Have you been following the Hubble telescope?’ he said.

‘Heh?’

‘They recently aimed it at the most boring and empty patch of sky they could find. After collecting light for weeks, it found ten thousand galaxies thirteen billion lightyears away. The human mind can’t comprehend that. And it goes the other way too. The smallest particle used to be a grain of sand. Then a molecule, then an atom, then an electron, then a quark. Now it’s a string. You know what a string is? It’s a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter. But I was going around like I had it all figured out? And where did it lead me? To wig out at a Seahawks game! That’s over now. I’m welcoming the mystery. I’m comforted by the mystery.’”

Joe confirms the telescope as a symbol supporting his spiritual journey and his openness to mystery. His observations of the stars show that he is much more uncertain than he used to be, which briefly creates conflict between him and Eleanor, who disdains religion and is used to relying on his certainty.

“Humor hadn’t worked. Smarts hadn’t worked. Brinksmanship, nastiness, insight, self-criticism, desperation, threats: none had worked. The trick had failed.

The trick had never failed.”

This quote mentions the concept of “the trick,” which Eleanor has used to get out of predicaments and get Joe and others to her side. It has always succeeded, showing that Eleanor’s manipulation and charisma have allowed her to avoid greater catastrophes in her personal life. The trick’s sudden failure with Joe shows that her manipulation tactics are no longer enough to help her and that Joe is not going to compromise his faith just to please her.

“The African American woman with the purple blouse? She too could have lost her mother to lung cancer when she was nine. The man with the Michael Landon hair? His sister might have mystifyingly turned against him too. Simon? His father could have been a drunk, abandoning him and his brother to fend for themselves, neither knowing when he’d be back, if he’d be back.

And Joe? We had a child together.”

Eleanor realizes during the group’s singing performance that Joe’s growth is not dependent on her and that her own faults may not be dependent solely on circumstances. She is forced to come to terms with the fact that she is responsible for many of the poor choices she made and cannot use her grief to justify and excuse her behaviors. She is also forced to confront the fact that Joe has changed and that she must adjust to resolve The Tension Between the Self and Family.

“‘Joe,’ I said. ‘Do you think I’m a mean person?’

‘You’re not a mean person,’ he immediately answered, and paused. ‘You’re a mean nice person. Big difference.’”

After her public outburst and subsequent hospitalization for injuries, Eleanor comes to terms with her behavior and how it has been impacting others, including Joe. She fears that she is not a kind or good person, but Joe assures her that she is. However, he wants them to work through his conversion and her emotional problems, and so does she. This exchange helps resolve the conflict between them, supporting The Tension Between the Self and Family, The Gap Between Who One Is and Who One Wishes to Be, and The Function of Family in Healing and Growth.

“Joe can be done with Ivy. I will never be done with Ivy. I don’t want to be done with Ivy. She’s my sister.”

This quote shows that while Joe has cut ties with Ivy completely and has no interest in reconnecting with her, Eleanor still wants to reconnect with Ivy and has no intention of giving up on her. This supports The Tension Between the Self and Family by showing that Eleanor is recommitting herself to bringing Ivy back into her life somehow and will always hold out hope that they will be close again. It also supports The Function of Family in Healing and Growth by showing that working through her conflict with Joe and acknowledging her trauma has made her more receptive to reconciling with her sister.

“I closed the scrapbook. And there it sat amid my jumble. Beautiful, every page of it, drawn by a person I used to be. The Flood Girls. Jinxed no more.”

The Flood Girls reappears for the last time as a symbol, supporting The Tension Between the Self and Family and the connection between Eleanor and Ivy. Eleanor finishes the book and is ready to possibly even publish it, which reflects her renewed commitment to reconciling with her sister, being open about her past, and healing from her grief and trauma.

“‘Even though they don’t know us,’ I said, ‘they don’t like us.’

Timby pulled out his toothbrush, spit into the sink, and looked up.

‘They know you,’ he said. ‘But they don’t know me.’”

This passage supports The Function of Family in Healing and Growth. When Eleanor expresses doubt that she can repair her relationship with Ivy, Timby gives Eleanor hope by suggesting that he can help connect the two sisters and their families.