Anais Granofsky had a rough childhood as she lived between wealth, poverty, dependence and acceptance of different believes and faiths. Her struggle to find her true identity was displayed with an absent father who chased region, a mother who lived in poverty struggling to provide, and grandparents who provide a life that many wish to accomplish.
While living with her mother Anais she would display a different side of herself as she was difficult to control, active and bothersome. As a teenager you begin to become more rebellious and have outburst because you may not agree with everything your parents push upon you, and if you are living in poverty, and can not afford all those material items your friends have it begins to change your attitude, actions and torment you. From the Toronto Life article called Between Two worlds Anais states the following, “At home, I felt the responsibility to keep my mom emotionally aloft, to need nothing so as not to burden her further.” As you can see this deeply effected her, because she knows her mom is trying her best to provide for the both of them, so she would not ask for things but through her attitude and actions towards her mother you can see she is frustrated and upset to see her mom live in these conditions. She does not have an open relationship with her mothers, to talk about all that is bothering her, seek guidance and knowledge. She wants her mom to help them both get through this tribulation they face in poverty. In our reality we seek our parents to help us identify who we are and what our purpose on Earth is. They talk to us and help us through our problems we face individually or as a family such as; friends, school, job, poverty, religion, believe, faith and life itself. In Anais case her emotions for both her and her mother was kept in a bottle and locked up. We all know if we do not seek guidance from our parents for the problems we face daily is begins to take a toll on us as we begin to act different, feel depressed and have negative thoughts. This will effect us because we do not know who we are, what we must do, what our identity is, and do not know how to deal with all the problems we face in life.
On the other hand with her grandmother she lives a better life. A life with money, freedom, security and richness. She began to change her personality as she act more polite, quite, calm and is more of a relaxed happy child. She want to prove to her grandparents that she may be an African child living in poverty with her mother, but she still has her Jewish roots inside of her blood. Between Two Worlds Anais states, ” I wanted wanted to be the perfect granddaughter, to keep her wanting me back.” She enjoyed her secret life with her grandmother as they would have more of a mother – daughter relationship. She would get better clothing and go to expensive and classy institution with her grandparents. As she goes home she would lie to her mother that she did not have a good time, hated every second with her grandparents and would hide her new clothing. She did this because she did not want her mother to believe she enjoys visiting her grandparents and does not want her mother to feel guilty, because she can not afford what her in- laws are providing for her own daughter. A part of the article that really hit me was when Anais would bring home expensive dishes of food and her mother would not want it and talk rubbish. The next morning the dishes would be empty. As you can see in this scenario is shows how Anais lives in poverty with her mother, and it also displays that her mother would feel embarrassed that she could not afford those foods to give to her own child.
Then you have her father who would come visit her once in a blue moon as he had better things to do than take care of his own daughter. He changed his identity, his own culture and began to believe and take faith in another religion. Now, how can a child express and know who they are if their own father ditched them to go change himself and find what is own identity is?So far she has seen poverty, struggle, wealth, love, dis-pare and now she will she what her father brings to the table. Between Two Worlds Anais states
” At night, there were full-moon parties where the women decorated themselves in mud and beads, their pendulum breasts swinging in the breeze. The men, including my dad, danced naked around a bonfire, playing the drums. He’d grab my hands, and we’d howl at the moon as sparks from the fire drifted up toward the inky black night. This was so different from my other lives back home with my grandparents and mother.” As you can see this little girl has experienced three lives, three different worlds at a young age. How can one at a small age with no guidance, no leadership, no ideal living conditions, someone living between many worlds, and someone constantly changing their identity to please her family find out who they really are? What kind of message are you showing your child by having her see naked people dancing, and singing?
Anais as a young child, went through many emotional stress, depression and anxiety as she changed her identity to fit in with her mother who lives in poverty, wealthy Jewish grandparents, and a father who is searching for his own identity. Being an outsider to a black mother, Jewish grandparents, and a religious seeking father she has to copes with her own struggles without telling anyone. There was no guidance, leadership, compassion or a true relationship. At her age she could not address the problem of lack of family as it cost her to lose herself in the struggles her family forced upon her.
work sited : Granofsky, Anais. “My Mom Was on Welfare, My Dad Was a Hippie, and My Grandparents Were Two of the Richest People in Toronto.” Toronto Life, 7 Sept. 2018, https://torontolife.com/city/life/mom-welfare-dad-hippie-grandparents-two-richest-people-toronto/
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