Page 24 Raine • Strained Differentiation imagined, communicative continuity with the dead mother, such that the torment of loss is “expunge[d] from consciousness” by the fantastic appearance of an ongoing dialogue (Tyson 12). The daughter’s reliance upon her mother, left desolate by death, leaves her to reach for any semblance of maternal guidance in an illusory union. Ash’s Fantasized Communication Neverhome portrays Ash’s faltering sense of reality through her imagined yet ongoing communication with her deceased mother, which reveals the filial fight to cope with maternal loss. In Ash’s struggle to accept her mother’s suicide, her repressed unconscious develops a fantasized line of communication with her mother, treating her mother as though she were cognitively functional to maintain the codependency that existed between them before death. Likewise, the suddenness of Ash’s mother’s suicide further complicated Ash’s ability to cleave since she had not anticipated their abrupt severance. In the days before her initial departure to war, Ash reconciles her uncertainties about combat when she “[speaks]…down through the dirt” to “ask…her [mother] what she thought” about her plan of disguise (8). Only after receiving her mother’s support, when her mother tells her, “Go on. Go on and see what you get,” does Ash solidify her plans to leave (8). As such, Hunt showcases Ash’s faltering sense of reality in that she waits for confirmation and support from her imagined mother before committing to her decision. Likewise, the day before leaving for war, Ash continually repeats that she is “leaving…tomorrow and maybe forever” to inform her repressively constructed image of her mother (80). Though Ash exhibits certainty about her plan to leave for war when speaking to Bartholomew, she waits to depart until confirming the plan with her imagined mother, thus emphasizing her severe disjuncture from reality. Despite its illusory state, Ash finds reassurance in this conversation, prompting her to leave the next morning with a commitment to fight (80). Further, when fighting homesickness and uncertainty, Ash sternly tells her deceased mother that she will press on in battles, finding solace and strength through speaking to an imagined figure (15-16). Ash also notes, upon injuring her arm in battle, that she could only talk to and rely on her mother (108). By speaking to her dead mother as though she were alive and drawing strength from a fantasized dialogue, Ash displays psychological instability because she repressively constructs an imagined mother to seek assurance from rather than accepting that her mother had severed their connection. She repressively grapples to maintain closeness with her mother by substituting their once direct communication with an imagined replacement. Thus, Hunt’s novel displays instances of psychological instability which emphasize the repressive effects of loss felt by daughters caught in maternal dependency. The Struggle of Differentiation Following Maternal Loss The specific task of differentiation for grieving and maternally identifying daughters incites significant psychological strain. The emotional burden of such loss may push daughters to
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