The Push: Mother. Daughter. Angel. Monster?

Fox Connor is Blythe’s husband and Violet’s father. Given his idyllic memories of childhood and the healthy love between him and his mother, Helen, Fox has high expectations for Blythe as a mother. When Blythe struggles to bond with Violet, Fox blames his wife for projecting too much anxiety on the baby. He insists that the emotional rift between Blythe and Violet is all in his wife’s head, telling her, “You’ve created this story about the two of you, and you can’t let it go” (86). Fox struggles to view Blythe as a multifaceted woman, looking to her to fill her proscribed role as a mother and little else.

It’s noteworthy, however, that only through Blythe’s unreliable narration does the story portray Fox as a passive-aggressive gaslighter who shrugs off her needs and concerns. An alternative interpretation of Fox’s actions might cast him as a good father whose chief concern at any given time is his daughter’s welfare. This perspective is especially persuasive given how Fox works to move on from Sam’s death, which Blythe finds unforgivable. Although Blythe frames his attempts to return to normalcy as deeply selfish, Fox is driven at least in part by a desire to be present for the child who is still alive. He would probably even cast his infidelity in this heroic light, as forming a partnership with Gemma allows him to give Violet the mother figure he believes she deserves.

The truth likely lies somewhere in between Blythe’s ugly depiction and the overly charitable interpretation. Fox himself comes to this realization when he tells Blythe, “[Violet] deserved more from you. [...] And you deserved more from me” (298).

Violet is Blythe and Fox’s first daughter. When Violet is an infant, Blythe struggles to bond with her, though these struggles may or may not be a projection of Blythe’s own difficult relationship with her mother. Whether the rift was already there or if Blythe created it, that schism only deepens as Violet grows older.

Incredibly intelligent and capable of deceit and manipulation from an early age, Violet acts out violently in preschool, stabbing one student with a pencil and cutting another’s hair off. Whether or not this behavior is rooted in Blythe’s emotional neglect from infancy is unclear, giving rise to a “nature versus nurture” conflict with respect to Violet’s character.

Blythe becomes obsessed with whether Violet pushed Sam’s stroller into the street. On one hand, Violet’s admission of guilt on Christmas Eve, combined with the unnamed incident that befalls Fox and Gemma’s son, Jet, may show that Blythe’s initial suspicions were correct: Violet is a murderer whose mental health issues extend far beyond those of most troubled young girls. At the same time, the author leaves room for doubt, especially given Violet’s tendency to torment and manipulate her mother. Violet may have admitted to killing Sam merely to provoke Blythe at a moment when she was finally ready to accept her daughter’s innocence. As for Jet’s tragic incident, it may simply be another accident, and Gemma’s belief that Violet is responsible is a way to show that even mothers like her, who make it look easy, are susceptible to the same anxieties and suspicions as Blythe is, particularly regarding their children’s well-being.

Cecilia is Blythe’s mother and one link in the cycle of inherited trauma in her family. Born to a young widow suffering from depression and drug addiction, Cecilia faces physical and emotional abuse from her mother, Etta. The two most traumatizing moments are when Etta nearly drowns Cecilia and when Etta locks Cecilia in a tiny, enclosed cellar for hours. After Etta hangs herself, Cecilia is raised by her stepfather Henry, who—though he doesn’t abuse her—has no love left to give after Etta’s suicide.

At 17, Cecilia, who dreams of becoming a poet, leaves home for a bigger city. There, she meets a doorman named Seb, who impregnates her. Cecilia insists that she get an abortion, but Seb refuses, telling her if that’s what she wants she will need to get the money from Henry. Ultimately, Cecilia gives birth to Blythe, though she continues to have no interest in being a mother.

Although Cecilia is physically abusive toward Blythe only once, she neglects her daughter, staying in the city with other men for weeks at a time and spending many of her days at home in bed taking pills. Shortly before abandoning her family for good, Cecilia tells Blythe, “I don’t want you learning to be like me. But I don’t know how to teach you to be anyone different” (293). This reveals the extent to which self-loathing plays a role in Cecilia’s abandonment of Blythe—a tragic observation given that her leaving is a major blow to Blythe’s own ability to love herself.

Etta is Cecilia’s mother and the earliest matriarch depicted in The Push. At an early age, she marries Louis. The son of the town doctor, Louis hopes to study medicine himself. Unfortunately, Etta’s father insists that she and Louis stay on the family farm, a decision which leads to Louis’s untimely death and may be seen as the root cause of the inherited trauma afflicting Cecilia and later Blythe.

Louis’s death causes Etta to turn inward, lying in bed all day abusing sedatives. She remains in this state when she gives birth to Cecilia, which suggests that Cecilia never received the kind of early infant nurturing the novel heavily emphasizes. Etta is no more enthusiastic about her motherly duties than Cecilia will be; in fact, she seems happiest when her daughter is nowhere in sight. Etta also displays a cruelty that Cecilia, for all her faults, lacks. This cruelty is most evident when Etta lures Cecilia to the basement so that she can lock her in the basement.