'This creative response explores the theme of fantasy versus reality, using many of the same techniques as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in a unique way. The fantasy in the case of My Mother Loves Me is that Jasper truly believes that his mother loves him, yet using hints throughout the story, “the blood on her knuckles a contrast against her pale skin,” the audience can gather that this is not the case. Although both texts have flashes to a different part of life, in MMLM it is to Jasper's past rather than an alternate world, “His mind flashed to last night, his coughing from his asthma making his mum angry.” Even through these differences, they both show the same message.
The theme is shown in this creative through Jasper’s reality, versus the true reality. Jasper truly believes that his mother loves him, “She loved him. She took care of him.”. This is his fantasy. It can be gathered that she beat him, but he has no recollection of this, showing he would rather forget, than know the truth. He is happy with his reality, even with strange bruises showing up from time to time, “He realised that he was in pain all over, his head ached, his legs, his chest. Why?”. Of course it wasn’t her fault that he didn’t have his puffer at school, she would never sabotage him like that. This is a more powerful form of fantasy than in Walter Mitty and shows how influential fantasies can be. The lies people tell themselves, creating their own fantasies. Yet unlike Walter Mitty, Jasper truly believes in his fantasy.
For this piece, I endeavoured to create a response that would show the theme while not being so transparent that it is boring to read. To do this, I kept most of the story shrouded in mystery, only leaving hints at what truly happened to Jasper until a bigger reveal at the end, “Where did these bruises come from, sweetie?... Because my mother loves me.”. This meant that the audience got a chance to get involved and try to guess the ending. This increases audience retention and keeps them invested in the text. This combined with the opening scene of Jasper dying, instantly draws the audience in and makes them feel for the main character.
With the characterization of Jasper, it was difficult to decide whether he should be a younger child and if so, how to show this. Eventually I settled on a teenager, “He could see the other year eights all screaming and crying” that had a stunted emotional growth. This is shown through his comments about certain objects, symbolising his emotional age “struggling to walk through his arrangement of toys tired from their late night wanderings.”. Having Jasper be slightly older means that the audience can empathise further as they know he has put up with his mother for a long time to be at this emotional level. Due to this, the audience feels more connected to the text, helping them understand the meaning.
Both texts used a multitude of literary techniques to create mood, “Was he finally dying? Could this be over at last? He could not stand another minute of this.”. In MMLM, the main literary device is imagery, “he could see people running at him, blue and red flashing lights illuminating them from behind.”. This is used to position the audience into the story, to be there with Jasper. When this is done correctly, it helps the audience emphasise with the main character, therefore helping them draw more meaning from the text. A few instances of symbolism were also written into this response. When Jasper was trying as hard as he could to speak, his own throat wouldn’t let him. He didn’t have control. This symbolises how his brain keeps the memories of his abused life away, keeping him in his fantasy as much as they try to break free.
This story originated from a reddit post that I saw ages ago, speaking of a bipolar mother who would hug her son to sleep at night so tight till he couldn’t breathe. He would say I love you too mum which would make her cry and stop hugging him. LAter on it was discovered that she was trying to kill him in a way. This set the premise for my story, the main themes that I decided to use.
The fact that Jasper has to walk through his toys “tired from their late night wanderings” speaks of his mental capabilities, for someone in year eight, the toys make him seem younger. It is meant to explain that he is emotionally stunted due to living with his mother like this for so long.
Jasper is taller than his mother, “she turned around and smiled up at him.” This further shows that he could most likely stop the abuse from her yet he doesnt. It has become such a part of his life. Also to him, the abuse doesnt exist. He is hiding from the reality with this fantasy that, “My mother loves me.”
When the blood trickles down his head before his mother leaves, this can be taken as if she has just hit him yet through his thoughts that the reader is viewing, he wanst. This shows the true power of his fantasy.
