Change Me Into Zeus Daughter

Essay 1: Motherly Love

In Change Me into Zeus's Daughter, Barbara Robinette Moss lives an eerie and ultimately triumphant life in which she grows up underprivileged and courageously in her family's hectic, impoverished survival in Alabama. Barbara does not receive the most attention as a child because of her large number of siblings. She feels as if she does not exist, and all the attention is focused on the other siblings of the family. Barbara's parents, SK and Dorris, differ from each other. Dorris serves as the parent that keeps the family together as she takes most of the abuse from SK. She commits herself to provide her family with whatever she can. On the other hand, SK acts as a tyrannical father who inflicts pain both physically and emotionally. SK spends most of the money that he earns on alcohol as a result of his addiction. While under the influence of alcohol, SK cannot control many of his emotions and actions. SK's violent behavior have a negative influence on Barbara's life, but the bravery and valor that Dorris shows has the stronger influence on Barbara and enables her to accomplish her goals as an adult.

There are times when SK acts as a kind, affectionate, and caring father. There are other times when SK is the abusive, rude, and cruel father. His malicious character is usually portrayed when SK drinks. When he comes home, all the children run to their hiding spots because they are so terrified of what he might do. He is an unpredictable character who can be abusive. SK has a notion when he is drunk that he can do whatever he wants to do. Barbara states, "My father believed he was the master of his fate. He did exactly what he wanted to do and, by manipulation or force, made those around him do what he wanted them to do. He inflicted pain recreationally, both physical and emotional. It was his hobby, his pastime." (37) This influences Barbara in a bad way. Barbara fears her father, which shows that his abusiveness might cause Barbara to act in a timid way at times, not realizing so. When she gets married, she soon gets divorced. A probable cause could be her fear of violence from troubled familial history. Instead of dealing with her and her husbands issues, she filed for divorce.

Barbara is left-handed, a fact SK did not appreciate. He would take time every day and teach Barbara how to write right-handed because it was "the correct hand to write with" (24), as SK states. SK wants Barbara to be like everyone else even though being left-handed is uncommon and unique. SK says, ' " You want to be like everybody else, don't you?' "(23) Dorris on the other hand does not like it when SK is trying to teach Barbara how to write right-handed. Dorris says, ' " It's foolishness, you know, you writing with your right hand when God gave only you in this family the ability to write with your left.' "(26) Dorris influences Barbara to be patient with her father and do the things she is capable of doing instead of doing things like everyone else. This greatly influences Barbara to become more independent.

Most of Barbara's peers made fun of the way Barbara looked and how crooked her teeth are. The people call her names such as, "Bucktooth Beaver, Bucktooth Beaver [or] Hey Pimpleface!" (210). Although it bothered her, she eventually adapted to the insults. As she started to get fed up she decided that she wanted to try and remove her moles and also get braces to fix her teeth. Barbara states, "I told myself it didn't bother me, that it made me strong... I could put on my mother's vacant stare and not react to anything said to me--on the outside. But inside, I could hear my heart weeping. I didn't want to be strong.