why lizzie?

[Allen]

I have often wondered why it is Lizzie was given a trip to Europe, and Emma was only given a few semesters in a nice college. Emma reportedly traveled abroad later in life. The interest to travel must have been there for Emma as well. Why didn't Emma accompany her sister? Not only that, but Emma claims to have willingly traded Lizzie bedrooms. Emma ended up with the glorified closet. This seems so odd considering they had lived there for years before this room switching took place. I do not buy into the story of giving Lizzie the larger room willingly for her nick knacks. Emma seems to come up with the short end of the stick in my opinion. But why?

[Yooper]

I guess the possibility exists that Lizzie and Emma did not recognize a disparity between the bedrooms, perhaps thinking of them as two rooms in common, or a suite. The need to pass through the larger room to get to the smaller made some commonality unavoidable. At that point, it didn't make much difference in which room a particular bed was located, they might both have been placed in the larger room and the smaller used as a dressing room, or whatever. I don't know that this was the case, but it is a different perspective.

It may be that Lizzie felt justified in asking Andrew to fund a trip abroad based upon money having been spent on Emma's schooling, while Lizzie received nothing. If that was the premise for Lizzie's argument, it might have prompted Emma to keep quiet or risk a refusal from Andrew.

If both explanations are correct, it suggests a dichotomy in perspectives on the part of Lizzie and Emma. On the one hand, the concept of "the girls" as a single entity or unit is apparent in the bedroom allocation. This also shows up in the turmoil over the Whitehead house. The concept of individuality is apparent in the trip to Europe. It may be that they had the ability to adopt whichever perspective suited them at the time for the greatest benefit. It would be natural for them to behave more as individuals as they grew older, but they had the ability to revert to a common identity when the need arose. The ongoing adversarial relationship with Abby might have fostered the behavior.

On the other hand, if Lizzie and Emma recognized a disparity between the bedrooms, and if the trip abroad was a singular occurrence without justification, it tends to look like Lizzie asserting her individuality in both cases. Your guess is as good as mine!

[DJ]

Yes, Lizzie and Emma certainly proved to be a "tag team" when it came to joining forces against Abby. I continue to believe that Emma "indoctrinated" ("brainwashed" seems a tad harsh) Lizzie into this attitude/mindset.

As for the boudoirs, as Yooper points out, what's the "big" difference?
The larger bedroom was a walk-through, as he points out.
Emma would have had more privacy, if that was her desire, in the smaller room.

Also, Lizzie seemed more fond of accoutrements, of having nice things and lots of them.
Emma, less so.
The larger space may have been a concession to Lizzie's tastes as much as anything, to accommodate her increasing store of possessions.

As for the trip abroad-- I don't think for one moment Emma would have left Abby unattended, as it were, for six months or so. Why, Andrew might have given his wife the moon, in the interim. No, Emma had to be all eyes and ears, in case another gift were forthcoming to Abby's relations-- or, gasp-- to Dear Abby herself. Although Lizzie surely deserves some props for eavesdropping, Emma probably thought her abilities superior in that regard.

Emma the spy; Lizzie the spender.

It's why I think Emma lived with Lizzie at Maplecroft-- to keep eyes and ears on her, lest she drop something she shouldn't.

This I believe Lizzie ultimately did, that she got careless, and Emma whiffed a scandal brewing in 1905. That may well be why she went overseas. By herself. Oh, I'm sure she didn't mind seeing Scotland, but I believe there was an overriding reason for her departure.

Also, Emma's departure in July 1892 seems way, way, way out-of-character. I believe she gave up on keeping tabs on Abby because of some big "lolly" forthcoming to Abby from Andrew, about which Les Girls could do nothing, having burned their bridges with The Daylight Robbery and the Ferry Street Property Disaster.

That "lolly" is the key to the murders, no doubt.

Emma goes nowhere for decades, then a couple of weeks before the murders, she packs up everything and takes off?

Something big was about to go down. I believe Lizzie vowed revenge, and Emma wanted to give her space to carry it out, while removing herself from the upcoming scene of the crime.

[SweetieDee]

As far as Lizzie being the one who was able to travel abroad, I sincerely believe that everything in that household was coming to a "head," so to speak, and Lizzie was more than likely on the verge of a nervous/emotional breakdown (perhaps she already had one) due to years of struggling with power, control, animosity, etc. Lizzie was most certainly caught in the middle her entire life.

Perhaps Emma paid for that trip abroad as an action of smoke & mirrors atonement for all the years of trapping Lizzie in the middle of a household war.

Perhaps Lizzie threatened to leave and be on her own.
Perhaps Lizzie bucked up against Emma and for a short period of time, switched sides, and was on team Abby.
Perhaps Emma was jealous of a too-close-for-comfort friendship between Bridget and Lizzie.

Whatever the circumstance, Emma thought that in order to keep Lizzie under her thumb, she had to appease her desires with certain materialistic things.

Whether or not Emma or Andrew paid for it is very important. Maybe Andrew was manipulated into paying for it. But either way, Lizzie got out of a house of misery for a short while.

I find it incredibly frustrating that Emma is such a mystery. In my opinion, she is a harder nut to crack than Lizzie. I think she was the neck that turned Lizzie's head. A manipulator. A conniver. A conspirator. A control freak. An emotionally challenged narcissist whose one great feature was to play a victim and martyr, all the while being one-step ahead. Her extension for all her deeds had always been Lizzie. Lizzie was a pawn in Emma's 42 year chess game.

I do not buy into the story of giving Lizzie the larger room willingly for her nick knacks. Emma seems to come up with the short end of the stick in my opinion. But why?

Because having control of Lizzie, and keeping Lizzie in line with her personal agenda of control at 92 Second Street, was of more importance than the size of her room. I believe that Emma catered to Lizzie in aspects like that to play the part of a loving sister. A caring sister. "See, I love you! You have the bigger room. I'm your side...if only you'll be on mine."

Emma could have left that house and gotten married, but her desire for control and her desire to not ever let Abby get her way became her shackles. Lizzie was more than likely manipulated into staying there as well, and if her desire for control wasn't as strong as Emma's, there was certainly resentment on Lizzie's part toward Emma. So Emma must sacrifice things like having a smaller room, and sparing the money to send Lizzie abroad so that she has leverage for the continuation of control.

Lizzie was miserable. All she had to do was to look at her sister to see what her life would be like in ten years. How pitiful. How pathetic.

Lizzie was a desperate person, who had a manipulator whispering in her ear; and a desperate person has the ability, over time, to take desperate measures to get out of a desperate situation.

In 1905, when Lizzie more than likely peaked with her courage and realization of Emma's influence on her life, she shunned Emma's power of her. In turn, Emma left, never to return. Only a narcissist would leave and never look back. If Emma didn't have a sister to control, then in her mind, she doesn't have a sister at all. I believe it was Emma who completely shut off and shut out Lizzie for daring to have a backbone and standing up for herself. Those are not the actions of a loving, caring older sister. Those are the actions of a manipulator who no longer has a weak victim to manipulate.

[mspitstop]

I just don't think Emma really cared that much and in the 2nd street house, if Lizzie stayed out later than Emma, Emma wouldl have been disturbed by her comings and goings. The smaller room, while confining, was isolated. BTW, if you ever get to Maplecroft, you will notice that that same configuration repeated itself. Emma had the smallest of the bedrooms upstairs while Lizzie had a summer and winter bedroom in different locations upstairs.
I believe Lizzie liked to galivant and Emma did not particularly. Lizzie traveled extensively after the trial and had friends in many parts of the country. Mr. Borden paid for the European Grand Tour for Lizzie. In fact, he had to send her more money while she was still there.

[DJ]

Welcome, SweetieDee and Mspitstop!

I think, SweetieDee, that you have come closest to approaching my assessment about Emma-- virtually Iago to Lizzie's Othello.

Let's boil it down to this--

(1) If you think Emma knew about (and therefore sanctioned) The Daylight Robbery, and
(2) If you think Lizzie told Emma she was planning to kill Abby, or
(3) If you think Emma knew that Lizzie committed the murders and therefore obstructed justice, then--

How do you reconcile that with the Emma who puts on the public mask of piety and gets all up in the Buck famiy's household?

Yes, SweetieDee, I believe Emma was a narcissist in the sense that she believed herself far superior to Abby and her family. She probably felt superior to her Father-- that is, looked down on him-- for having married Abby, and she apparently treated Lizzie as a child. In any event, she never gave Abby a chance.

(I won't open up another J.V. Morse discussion except to say, within this context, that Emma doubtless "played" him as well for any bit of information she could extract about Andrew's finances. We know they met, that Emma wrote to him. Gee, wouldn't you like to get your hands on one of those letters! Why wasn't Uncle John carrying one of those around in his pocket when he visited Fall River Aug. 3rd???)

How, how, how in the World does Emma reconcile The Whitehead Affair with her Public Piousness? That alone tells you how conflicted she was, and was probably the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Going back to the rooms, and as per the observations of you both: Can't you just hear Emma at church: "I have given Lizzie my bedroom-- she is still such a child, and I must indulge her."

Oh, I'm sure there were all sorts of strings attached to the bedroom swapping, one way or another, down to and including keeping Lizzie on Emma's side.

Also: Aside from all the kvetching and kvelling that Emma could do to her friends and neighbors and churchies about giving up something "better," I would wager Emma wanted to put herself at a further remove in that smaller room. For instance, if Lizzie and Emma had retreated to their rooms, Andrew would have had to knock first on Lizzie's new room and enter it before he could get to Emma's new bedroom.

Maybe Emma expected Lizzie to run interference for her in the larger room, when someone knocked, so that Emma could wind up not even being bothered with Andrew (or Abby) intruding on her personal space, as it were.

Possible scenario:

Lizzie answers door to her new bedroom, to Andrew:

"Yes, Father?"

"Lizzie, I want to speak with you and Emma after dinner. Abby has had a note to call on a sick friend and will be out.."

"Yes, Father. I shall tell Emma."

Then, say, Emma could sneak out of the house in the interim.

Lizzie, later: "Father, I forgot to tell Emma that you wished to speak to us."


In any event, the bedroom switch put Emma at a further communicative remove, which probably suited her fine and dandy.

Thank you for your thought-provoking commentary, and thanks to Allen for the post.