Characterization

Mary Karr was impulsive. "I was quick to burst into tears in the middle of a sandlot baseball game and equally quick to whack someone in the head without much provocation." She expresses her emotions without thinking about it or having a reason to. She was a very wild child, they didn't have much parenting so they did whatever they wanted to without consequence." And Lecia and I both behaved like savages at any opportunity."

Mary's mother was Nervous. "I should explain here that in East Texas parlance the term Nervous applied with equal accuracy to anything from chronic nail-biting to full-blown psychosis." It was thought she had a form of mental illness but it isn't known what kind because it wasn't talked about. She grew up in a higher social class but she turned against her mother's beliefs. She moved to Texas, married a lot of times, and embraced western mannerisms.

Mary's father was a story teller. "He had this gift. He knew how to be believed." He would tell stories of his childhood so vividly that Mary would remember them more than her own. He was very expressive, his face would tell more than his words. He fought with anyone he disagreed with, he wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do.