44 pages • 1 hour read
Lana FergusonThe Nanny
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Overcoming Self-Doubt
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses child neglect.
Self-doubt and similar insecurities affect characters throughout the novel, often leading them to take drastic measures in their relationships. Sophie and Aiden experience doubt about their familial relationship following Rebecca’s death, while Cassie’s lack of confidence stems from a childhood of neglect, illustrating how deeply past experiences influence the present.
Sophie and Aiden’s father-daughter relationship is marked by self-doubt as both question the strength of their family unit. As The Nanny progresses, Sophie begins to doubt herself more and more. She tells Cassie early in their relationship that she feels like a burden to Aiden and doesn’t want to tell him she misses him because she thinks it would make him mad. This feeling grows until she confesses to Cassie that she thinks Aiden and Cassie are mad about what happened to Wanda, saying, “He doesn’t want to keep me anymore because I ran you off” (386). Similarly, Aiden doubts his ability to be a good parent to Sophie, telling Cassie multiple times, “She’ll have a better time with you than she ever would with me” (82). It is partially Aiden’s self-doubt that leads him to look for a nanny, as he thinks he can’t give Sophie the life she deserves with his work schedule. Yet even once Cassie begins to look after Sophie, Aiden feels guilty about his parenting. That both father and daughter feel unable to engage fully in their relationship reveals the limiting nature of self-doubt. Each one’s fears reveal that the other’s insecurities are unfounded, yet their mutual self-doubt impedes their connection.
While Sophie and Aiden experience self-doubt within the context of their family unit following Rebecca’s death, Cassie’s self-doubt is more pervasive, driving most of her decisions throughout the novel. From childhood, Cassie’s parents led her to believe that she was a burden, continually commenting that her existence ruined their lives. Cassie carries this insecurity into adulthood, where her other attempts at relationships magnify it. When Cassie is introduced at the beginning of the novel, she considers Wanda her only friend and “the first person to really love [her]” (339). She doubts whether she can inspire love in anyone else, and when her plan to meet with A fails, Cassie feels more unlovable than ever. When she first meets with Aiden and Sophie, she feels completely underqualified for the job despite their care for her. She doubts that Aiden will still care for her once he learns she is Cici. Her insecurities therefore impact every area of her life, from her professional ambitions to her romantic and platonic relationships.
Cassie’s self-doubt has far-reaching implications not only for her but also for those she loves. She convinces herself that she is a burden to Aiden and Sophie and must leave to save them from future problems. Though she convinces Aiden to overcome his self-doubt earlier in the novel by getting him to recognize that he is a good parent, Cassie ignores Aiden’s opinions when she decides for him that she cannot be useful or lovable. Ironically, it takes Sophie sharing her self-doubt to get Cassie to believe that she is not a burden to the family. When Cassie tries to explain to Sophie why she left, Sophie only says, “That’s silly. You can’t protect us. You’re too small” (388). When her feeling of being a burden is disproved by those who love her, Cassie is finally able to overcome some of her self-doubt.
The Effects of Parenting on Children
The Nanny explores the impact that parents have on their children’s emotional strength and future relationships. Cassie, who experienced a childhood marked by neglect, struggles to believe in her self-worth as an adult. Witnessing Aiden’s parenting, she is reminded of her own parents’ absence from her life, yet Sophie, Aiden, and Cassie’s dynamic demonstrates the healing power of a strong family bond.
Throughout the novel, Cassie reflects on her parents’ absence in her childhood, which impacts her relationships in the present day. Early in the novel, Cassie tells Aiden, “I put myself to bed, I made my own dinner, I spent weekends talking to a ridiculous number of imaginary friends just to simulate some sort of human contact. That kind of loneliness can really fuck a kid up” (105). She describes how her birth was unplanned and unwanted, a fact her parents continually reminded her of. Cassie’s parents told her she was a burden, blaming her for the fact that they had to work endlessly to pay for her while neglecting her at home. Cassie carries the emotional scars of this neglect to adulthood, as well as a physical scar she obtained from having to cook for herself when no adult was home. Wanda continually tells Cassie, “[N]ot everyone is like your parents […] they’re shitty, selfish people. Your parents shouldn’t have been parents […] They were bitter people with bitter lives who turned up their noses at a beautiful gift instead of appreciating it” (348). Despite Wanda’s frequent remarks, Cassie still takes on the blame for her parents’ neglect, thinking it is her fault that they had to work so hard and spend so much time away from her. The feelings her parents ingrained in her lead Cassie to doubt herself at every turn, causing her to make decisions that damage her relationships throughout the narrative.
While Cassie’s childhood had a damaging effect on her self-esteem, it also allows her to be an empathetic nanny and positively impact Sophie and Aiden’s relationship. Cassie is frequently reminded of her parents’ absenteeism because she sees a different version of it in Aiden’s relationship with Sophie. Early in their relationship, Cassie says, “I am almost one hundred percent certain that Aiden is nothing like my parents since he actually seems to enjoy spending time with Sophie and tries to do so every chance he’s able; I pack away my own bias to try to see his side” (74). However, she can’t help but be reminded of her feelings as a child when Sophie tells her that she wishes Aiden was more present and worries she would make him mad by telling him that. Due to her own childhood memories, Cassie does everything she can to get Aiden to spend more time with Sophie and show him that his insecurities about being a bad parent are unfounded. Cassie, knowing the effects that parenting has on children, does not want to see Aiden and Sophie’s relationship unintentionally become like that between her and her parents. In this way, she is able to use her own difficult upbringing to positively shape Sophie’s childhood.
The Necessity of Support Systems
Throughout The Nanny, characters willingly rally together to support and nurture Sophie, but many struggle to accept support themselves. Ultimately, Cassie, Aiden, and others learn to mitigate loneliness and isolation with traditional and non-traditional support systems.
As Cassie learns how Aiden’s absence affects Sophie, she becomes determined to give Sophie the best support system she can. Drawing on her own feelings from childhood, Cassie thinks about what her life would have been like if she had anyone other than her parents to rely on. Seeing herself in Sophie, Cassie formulates a plan to give her a large support system. She tries to befriend Iris for the main purpose of making Sophie happy, telling Iris, “She needs all the love she can get” (99). The more Cassie can build Sophie a support system with people like Iris, Wanda, and Lucia, the more she sees Sophie come out of her shell and feel less lonely after the death of her mother.
While Cassie, Aiden, and Iris come together to support Sophie, they all struggle with loneliness themselves. Before meeting Aiden and Sophie, Cassie clings to Wanda, as she is the only person she receives any support from. When Wanda’s life is threatened toward the end of the book, Cassie notes how she “feel[s] that looming sense of dread at the idea of the first person to really love [her] lying in the hospital” (339). Aiden is also lonely even before the beginning of the novel. He admits, “I think maybe it had gotten to me, the loneliness that comes from my packed work schedule that made it so hard to meet people. Maybe that’s how I ended up surfing OnlyFans late one night at the suggestion of a coworker” (115). This is what initially connects him and Cassie as he notices that “she seemed lonely too” (116). Cassie and Aiden’s online relationship initially functions as a non-traditional support system for them both, providing them with companionship and comfort. However, when their online relationship fails, Aiden feels more lonely than ever as he does not think he has a support system to help him live his life, let alone take care of his daughter. Ironically, Aiden’s animosity toward Iris leads him to forget about her and all the help she could provide him and Sophie if he only asked. Iris, too, struggles with loneliness. At the end of the novel, Cassie learns just how lonely Iris has been since Rebecca’s passing; Sophie is the only family she has left, so she has structured her life around her niece. Seeing this, Cassie notices how it is not only important for Sophie to have a support system but also for people like Iris, Aiden, and herself to have one as well. The novel’s epilogue shows Cassie and Aiden spending time with Iris, Wanda, and their respective partners, revealing the joy inherent in embracing family, community, and support.
