Narrative Sequence

Let The Northern Lights Erase Your name by Vendela Vida portrays the life and the development of a lady names Clarissa. Not only did Clarissa go through a childhood of abandonment, but also went through a childhood of physical and mental abuse. Clarissa’s mother abandoned her when she was fourteen. She hasn’t seen or heard from her mother since then. Along with dealing with growing up without a mother, Clarissa has to also deal with and overcome the physical and sexual abuse. Clarissa is twenty-eight when her father dies. After his death, Clarissa finds out that the man who she thought was her biological father her whole life was not actually her real father. A childhood like Clarissa’s can either change someone in a positive way or a negative way. Unfortunately, Clarissa reacted to her childhood in a way that would affect her and the people that were involved in her life in a negative way. Instead of learning from the mistakes that Clarissa’s mother made while raising Clarissa, Clarissa decides to follow in her mother’s footsteps when making life long decisions.
Clarissa was raised by a man named Richard who she thought was her real father. Richard was always very good to Clarissa and always had good intentions while raising her. Clarissa and Richard were also very close during her childhood since Richard was her only parent figure that she had. Richard chose to keep the truth about Clarissa’s real parents away from Clarissa, which until the truth was discovered, was probably the best thing for Clarissa. The process of dealing with the fact that you mother has abandoned you and that your real father is not the man that you are being raised by would be a very hard process to deal with. As a child, it is better that one does not know that they are actually alone. Richard had good intentions when keeping the truth of Clarissa’s life a secret from her, but the truth is a bit of an overload when it is laid on her. When Richard dies and Clarissa finds out the truth about her father and her childhood, she feels more alone than ever and needs chance in her life. She makes a rash decision to leave everyone and her life behind to set of in search for her mother. This is a very selfish decision because Clarissa is engaged to a man named Pankaj. Clarissa is also pregnant with their child. This is a place in the novel where Clarissa should have learned from the mistake that her mother made by abandoning her. Clarissa knows the negative effects of abandoning the people that love you and that you are supposed to love, but she decides to leave anyways. If Clarissa is not able to learn from her mother’s decision then she is in no shape to be setting off to travel the world on her own. On top of her disheveled mindset, she is pregnant and engaged. Similar to her mother, her priorities are not with her family and her baby; they are with her own happiness.
Clarissa grew up without a mother. Her mother got up on day and just left without warning. It was a complete surprise to everyone in the family and was very devastating. She left with basically nothing, not even any clothes. After Clarissa’s father dies, Clarissa walks in and looks at Pankaj and just decides that she is going to leave him in search of her mother that she does not even know. Her mother obviously does not love her and Pankaj does, so this is a very rash and in a way, ignorant decision. “At seven, I opened the door to my room and stared at Pankaj. I would leave him, I decided” (16). She could have a good future with Pankaj, but instead decides to leave him and take a very big chance by risking the wellbeing of her future along with the future of her child and Pankaj. This is a very similar decision to the one that her mother made. They both just got up one morning and decided to leave everything behind. This is not a decision that a mature adult would make.
After Clarissa leaves Pankaj and sets off on her journey, Clarissa meets another man and makes another bad decision that I responsible adult should not be making. She meets a man named Kari and decides to have a few drinks with him even though Kari is much younger than her. Clarissa is just living in the moment and does not really ever think about the wellbeing of her future. Clarissa drinks Kari under the table since Kari is much younger than she is and cannot handle his booze as well as she can. She gets him to drink so much that he is found face down in the bathroom stall. “A part of me was relieved that what had started had ended” (36). A lot of the decisions that Clarissa makes help distract her from what her life is really like. It seems like she is just trying to forget everything. This desperation drives her to try anything new, but Clarissa’s desperation causes her to not think things through before she acts.
Clarissa later meets another man named Henrik during her travels. The more time that they spend together, the closer they become and Clarissa really starts to forget about ever going back to Pankaj. Henrik accompanies Clarissa in her travels to find her mother.