Isobel was not responsible for her mother's unjust actions when she was a child but, due to Mrs. Callaghan's distortion and sadistic manipulation, Isobel closed herself off emotionally struggling to control over his own life. Through Mrs. Callaghan's characterization we are able to understand Isobel's past and what caused her to isolate herself emotionally from everyone. Her mother served as an "invisible knife" and a reminder of what happens when Isobel allows people into her life. The image of the emotional isolation that Isobel faces during her adolescence is shown through the recurring symbol of building a wall and turning her life "into a room" and choosing who to open up to emotionally. Isobel goes through an emotional journey, but the theme of internalized anger and the need for control was the catalyst for Isobel to finally realize that her mother's treatment was not her fault and that she could not choose to turn her "life into a room and choose what came to mind." it” and ultimately her struggle for control evolves into the awareness that she is the master of her own destiny. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Witting's characterization of Mrs. Callaghan challenges the concept of maternal responsibility and ultimately causes Isobel to shut down emotionally and come to fear human interaction. Witting constructs Mrs. Callaghan in such a way that her past is never revealed, which makes it difficult to empathize with her being so cruel to Isobel and Margaret. The character's animalistic aggression is shown through the tearing of Isobel's yellow dress during her “state of grace” phase when she “heard the thud of the wires and the noise approaching. She screamed as if she had been hit." Through Isobel's mother ripping and tearing the yellow dress from her sister's body, Witting shows us Mrs. Callaghan's need for control and sadistic aggression that shaped Isobel's childhood immensely. Isobel and how "it wasn't just a dress, it was so much more." The dress came to represent Isobel's total lack of control over her life and how her mother was ruthless in her attempts to control her Mrs. Callaghan on Witting's part demonstrates the complete lack of control Isobel had over her life and emotions. This was demonstrated once again when Isobel received a "gift for a real girl", the pin she cared for her even if her mother didn't. It symbolized the value and recognition of Isobel's happy birthday when she was genuinely happy was overshadowed by her mother telling her “Don't you dare cry. Ungrateful little bitch. You little pig, you ungrateful little pig, you couldn't say thank you, you couldn't even say thank you. This form of emotional manipulation showed Mrs Callaghan punishing Isobel because she had no control over the gift given to Isobel and this made her furious. Mrs Callaghan's lack of control led to her animalistic outburst, resulting in Isobel's happy memory of her birthday validation being distorted into a scenario where everything was Isobel's fault. This led Isobel to find comfort in books, literature and stories that allowed her to escape. All Isobel had control over was her senses and her memory, but intelligence built a character truly heartless, without remorse, and without empathy. “It was well established that Isobel was a liar.” This thought about herself was ingrained in her throughhis mother's words and the distortion of the truth. This shaped Isobel's construction of herself and how she would come to see herself throughout her adolescence. Before anyone else, Isobel's mother hurt her. This led Isobel to withdraw into herself and never allow anyone else to hurt her again without her permission as a form of attempted control over her life. Isobel's need to protect herself is shown through the imagery and symbolism of the walls she builds around herself and the prospect of escape she internalizes through reading literature. The reflective quality of the literature about her life is constructed by Witting to reveal the thesis of the novel and Isobel's internal conflict with Sherlock Holmes' title: "A Case of Identity". This foreshadows and reflects Isobel's inner turmoil and how she would come to question everything she knows and not know who she is, constantly trying on different personas. The symbolism of his attempt to change and alter his persona is retrospective of his fear of ending up like his mother, whose voice is dead but not “silenced.” The imagery of literature serves as the backdrop for her to find her own identity and escape the traumas of her life by slipping "behind the curtain of darkness into her private world". This shows that Isobel's habit of escapism through literature is recurring throughout the novel and is ultimately Isobel's way of controlling herself by trying to escape her life during adolescence and avoiding other members of the "human race", especially in retirement. Throughout his adolescence the imagery of the “room” and how he builds a wall around himself. The decision to hide behind a wall and become indifferent to taunts and insults is a form of Isobel controlling her life. The walls Isobel builds around herself to protect herself from pain and abandonment symbolize her attitude toward those who show her care. The internalized pain and trauma from his childhood that he couldn't control manifests itself through images of the walls he builds around himself to protect himself. Throughout her adolescence Witting shows that Isobel cannot “make [her] life into a room and choose what goes into it” due to the nature of humans as social beings. Witting showed that these metaphorical walls negatively prevent her from establishing meaningful and caring relationships with those she encounters due to building metaphorical walls around herself in an attempt to gain control over her life. The image of the room is a motif throughout the progression of Isobel's growth from childhood to adolescence to show Isobel's inability to cope with human attention, blocking and deflecting all compliments and not recognizing that people are trying to connect with her. Isobel's metaphorical walls she builds around herself along with her inability to recognize that human empathy is a vehicle for Witting's theme of childhood abandonment and personal identity. The theme of personal identity is evident through Witting's narrative voice to force readers to get inside Isobel's head and empathize with her past struggles. The construction of Isobel's traumatic past is the foundation of the theme of personal identity and how it is used as a form of control in Isobel's life. Throughout childhood, her mother constantly told her she was a liar, leading her to doubt her own senses and memory. Although Isobel is depicted as having no control over her life, her mother's death was the catalyst for her taking control over her life and taking a job, she.