Mrs. Everything

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue and Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-29

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary: “Bethie”

Bethie returns from roller-skating with her friends one Saturday to find her mother on the couch, which is strange, and her father upstairs in their only bathroom. Sarah explains he has an upset stomach. She knocks for Ken multiple times, asking if he will want dinner, but he doesn’t answer. Soon, Jo comes home, calling for her father. Finally, Jo forces the door open with a hanger, warning Bethie and Sarah to stay back because Ken is unconscious. Jo tries to give him CPR, as the paramedics do when they arrive, but Ken dies of heart failure in the bathroom.

The family grieves. Since Sarah is too upset, Jo takes charge of communicating the news and arranging funeral details. Jo only sobs into Mae’s arms when she arrives, but Bethie and Sarah frequently cry. Despite their mourning, Sarah must get a job to cover their finances. Uncle Mel, Ken’s younger brother and a wealthy optometrist, hugs Bethie, brushing her butt. She’s shocked Uncle Mel would touch her this way. Later, he sobs into Bethie’s arms and touches her breast. She pushes him off. He offers Bethie a job babysitting her cousins, which she accepts due to her mother’s insistence.

Since Bethie knows they need the money, she continues to babysit for Uncle Mel’s family. Her aunt Shirley gives her tasks such as sorting the children’s toys and clothes, culling the old linens for donation, or cleaning. Whenever Uncle Mel arrives home, his breath smells of alcohol. He gives Bethie a ride home so she can avoid the bus. Each week, Uncle Mel’s sexual assaults escalate, until he pulls Bethie onto his lap in the car, squeezing her body until he has an orgasm. She keeps the sexual assault secret since Jo has taken a job out of town as a camp counselor and Sarah needs her high wages, but she gains 10 pounds from stress-eating.

When Jo arrives home from summer camp, Bethie finally admits Uncle Mel is touching her inappropriately. Jo wants to kill him. They plan to continue earning the money but keep Bethie safe.

Together, they confront Uncle Mel at home. Jo threatens to tell Aunt Shirley of his crimes against Bethie, stating he owes them money for a business deal with Ken from the past. Bethie finds her courage, insisting he write them a check, or she will tell everyone how he assaulted her. Uncle Mel nearly cries, apologizing and giving them a check for a hefty sum.

Chapter 7 Summary: “Jo”

Jo spent her summer busy at camp with tennis, swimming, and growing closer with Lynnette. They skinny-dipped and made love. Jo told Lynnette she loved her, and Lynnette reciprocated—but when they returned to school, Lynnette continued dating football star Bobby Carver. Jo can barely tolerate Lynnie dating him. She feels jealous of Bobby, wishing Lynnette would run away with her, but Jo isn’t starry-eyed enough to imagine her friend would choose her. Unlike Jo, Lynnie wouldn’t fight against society to come out as a lesbian.

Lynnie explains to Jo that her two-year anniversary with Bobby is approaching, which means they’re going to have sex. Jo tries to convince her not to, but Lynnie is at peace with the decision. She admits other students have been whispering about them being lesbians, and Bobby worries Lynnie likes Jo more than him since they spend so much time together. Jo agrees that women who love women are lesbians, but Lynnie makes the distinction that though they may be in love, they don’t fit the lesbian stereotype; they don’t dress like men or have short haircuts. Jo realizes Lynnette will never be with her fully, as their relationship is only a taboo experiment.

To avoid thinking about Lynnette and Bobby having sex, Jo goes to play tennis for hours with a teammate. She returns home to an empty house and finds an old bottle of schnapps. She drinks herself into unconsciousness. Bethie hides the bottle, tells their mom Jo has the flu, and awakens her sister with water and aspirin. Jo thanks her, but she doesn’t want to talk about her problems.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Bethie”

Bethie has gained 12 pounds since Uncle Mel sexually assaulted her. She feels concerned and self-conscious about her weight, as others badmouth her, boys barely look at her anymore, and she feels ugly. In order to feel better and earn the lead role in the school play, she begs Sarah to let her try new diet shakes. Although she’s only supposed to drink one to two shakes as a meal supplement a day, Bethie pushes herself to drink three shakes a day. She aims to become so thin she “disappears.”

With her beautiful voice and weight loss, she earns the lead in the school play. Harold Jefferson, a handsome Black boy with stage fright and a great voice, is the lead male. Bethie has a crush on him, but she knows Sarah would disapprove of her liking a Black boy. He lifts Bethie up in one scene, so she wants to ensure she’s thin enough. Soon, Bethie starts throwing up the family dinners too. She loses 18 pounds total, more than planned. Jo chastises her for getting too thin, but Sarah tells her she looks great.

One day at rehearsal, Bethie faints. She wakes up in the nurse’s office, where Jo explains Bethie has been dieting. Jo takes Bethie home, reveals she knows Bethie isn’t eating anything solid, and makes grilled-cheese sandwiches. Bethie is touched that Jo cares so much, tears in her eyes as she waits until Bethie finally eats. Jo dumps the last of the diet shakes down the drain.

Chapter 9 Summary: “Jo”

Jo and Bethie convince Sarah to host a big Thanksgiving dinner with their grandparents and close friends. They promise to cook, clean, and wear their best dresses, so Sarah reluctantly agrees, since she has to work at the dress store on Thanksgiving morning and is counting on them to help.

On Thanksgiving, they wake early and prepare the food; Bethie is a great cook, so Jo sets the tables, places flowers, and plans to make Jell-O with Lynnette before she and her family leave for her grandparents’ house. At Lynnette’s house, Lynnie pulls Jo inside, right to her bedroom, where they make fervent love. Afterward, Lynnie convinces her to try a special fruit Jell-O recipe. Then they take a shower together, and Lynnette’s younger brother Randy catches them hitting each other with towels naked. The girls worry they’ve been found out.

At home, Jo welcomes their guests, helps finish food, and places her Jell-O in the freezer because it hasn’t set. They enjoy a lovely meal, but when Jo brings the Jell-O, it splashes onto a guest’s dress. Sarah is disappointed, reprimanding her that it’s hard to ruin Jell-O. Jo retorts that Sarah hates her and that no one misses Ken except her, though she knows Bethie does. Sarah slaps her, tells Jo that she knows about her “little girlfriend” and that Jo is “unnatural” (119). Jo rushes outside and drives away to escape the turmoil of Lynnette’s temporary affection, her mother’s scorn, and her father’s absence.

She drives to Lake Erie and cries for an hour, missing her dad and wishing she could change, but she can’t. She returns home, where Sarah offers her food. Jo apologizes to her family and confesses she will always be different. Sarah is puzzled by her and tells Jo, “[A]ll I want is for you to be happy […] to have a regular life” (119). “It’s hard to be different,” Sarah continues, but she seems to accept Jo despite not understanding her.

Chapter 10 Summary: “Bethie [1962]”

Bethie visits Jo at the University of Michigan. Since she’s a high school senior, Bethie is excited to see what college is like through visiting her sister. On campus, she notices students, some walking barefoot, in the groovy clothes of the ’60s. Jo shows her around campus, takes her to lunch, and offers for Bethie to attend her classes. Bethie chooses a walk instead; while exploring, she runs into Harold Jefferson, her drama partner in a play a few years prior, and she has an enjoyable chat with him. Harold invites her to a party later.

After attending a concert with Jo, Bethie asks if she can go to Harold’s party instead of her sister’s plans. Jo warns her not to stay out too late or drink too much, and Bethie goes to the run-down party house. Inside, there is smoke, dancing, drugs, and music—unlike her regular parties in high school. Devon, the house owner, gives her a piece of acid on her tongue, though Harold disapproves. Bethie experiences a drug trip and feels high, as if the walls are moving. She’s in awe of the dancers, misses her dad, and thinks Jo is moving on without her, but she chose to do something different and risky too by taking drugs. Harold, like a gentleman, brings her home and tucks her into Jo’s dorm-room bed.

Chapters 6-10 Analysis

The themes of grief and Mother-Daughter Conflict develop through Ken’s death and the resulting conflicts for the family. The women’s dynamic shifts when tenderhearted Ken passes away unexpectedly. Sarah becomes the breadwinner, working nonstop for money to support her family and keep their home. Her nature turns serious and stern because she expects her daughters to earn money for the family and help take care of the house. Therefore, Jo and Bethie mature quickly. Jo, who was close to her father, distracts herself from her grief by falling in love with Lynnette, but she misses Ken terribly. Confronting Sexual Orientation and Societal Pressure, Jo understands that Lynnette won’t be able to have a relationship with Jo that is out in the open, and she feels jealous whenever Lynnette mentions the camp counselor who introduced her to the vibrator or any sexual activity with her boyfriend, Bobby.

Jo’s job as a camp counselor provides much-needed money and distracts her from her grief while providing income for her mother and younger sister. Likewise, Bethie handles Ken’s grief with tears and hard work. Her babysitting job for Uncle Mel may lead to helpful income, but she must endure sexual assaults from him, which adds trauma to her character arc. Mel blames his actions on mourning his brother, Ken. Because Jo is at camp and Sarah is constantly working, Bethie cannot rely on her family to help her. She wishes her father were alive to protect her. His death has created deep abandonment wounds, which are integrated later into the plot and create a realistic character depth. The layers of conflict and emotional upheaval caused by Ken’s death create conflict and complexity for each woman to deal with in her own way.

Bethie’s trauma with Mel results in PTSD and affects her mental, physical, and emotional health. The sexual assaults from Uncle Mel, including him touching Bethie and ejaculating while holding her captive as he asks if she misses her father, are graphic, emotional scenes full of vivid sensory details, such as Mel’s alcoholic breath in her ear or his thrusting as Bethie sits on his lap in his Cadillac. Thankfully, with Jo’s assistance (and through the Bonds of Sisterhood), Bethie doesn’t have to endure Uncle Mel’s assaults any longer, but she copes with her trauma through overeating. She gains 12 pounds that are tied inextricably to her emotional state:

Cookie dough was best, but she’d eat ice cream and sherbet or cottage cheese, bread or cold rice or mashed potatoes, raspberry jam or chicken gravy that had solidified to jelly. [...] Anything to fill the hole that had opened up inside of her, anything to fill the void, until there was no room left for bad memories or anger or guilt or shame (71).

Bethie’s weight gain only leads to her feeling ugly because she’s teased for gaining weight by her peers, shamed by Sarah (who gives her diet magazines), and fears she no longer has the ideal beauty she believes is necessary for women. Society’s pressure to be thin, an upcoming play audition, and Bethie’s sensitivity to traditional feminine beauty push her to lose weight in unhealthy ways. She abuses diet drinks, refuses to eat solid food, and forces herself to vomit after dinner. The Bonds of Sisterhood are also apparent: Jo insists that Bethie shouldn’t be relying on diet drinks and hides them in the attic. Jo tries to protect Bethie, as she did when they blackmailed Uncle Mel, but she cannot control what Bethie does with her body (an homage to feminism in this respect as well).

In addition to Bethie’s sexual abuse, a significant conflict of the novel unfolds in the Thanksgiving scene, when Jo is forced into coming out and her mother calls her “unnatural” for loving another girl. Sarah and Jo already have an unstable relationship due to Mother-Daughter Conflict, but Jo’s failure to make Jell-O correctly because she’s enamored with Lynnette erupts into an important conflict that increases the plot tension and revolves around topics of sexuality, societal pressures, grief, and family dynamics. When Sarah asks Jo what is wrong with her, she insinuates that Jo has problems that aren’t normal, when nothing is “wrong” with her except failing to meet society’s expectations for femininity, especially in the 1960s. Weiner crafts the scene with layers of cutting dialogue and realistic expectations for the historical period, as well as reactions that make sense for each character’s personality, such as Sarah’s being furious and disappointed and Jo’s defying her until she’s too hurt to fight. Teenage Jo already knows she’s never going to be a delicate, graceful woman who is content to marry a man and raise babies, though she cannot speak this aloud to her mother. Only when Sarah reveals that she knows about Jo and her “girlfriend” and slaps her does Jo leave the situation. Uncharacteristically, Jo cannot rely on her bravery and runs away from her mother’s harshness. Her drive, motivated by the pain of her mother’s callousness and the grief of losing Ken, who would understand and accept her for being a lesbian, symbolizes her emotional journey through the turmoil of both traumas. When she returns to the Thanksgiving meal, Bethie and her mother are welcoming with food, and Jo admits she doesn’t want a “regular life,” which is her version of coming out to her family. In revealing her sexuality, Jo demonstrates the persistence needed both to stand up for herself and to be herself, though it takes years until she fulfills both goals. Jo doesn’t feel loved or accepted by her mother, but she still looks for the good in Sarah when she returns after her drive, knowing that when Sarah offers her dinner and a slice of pie and says she only wants Jo to lead a life without hardship that she is offering a form of acceptance and love.