The character of Hattie Troutman goes through her own road trip to self-realization while literally doing a road trip with her niece and nephew. In the beginning Hattie is a free spirit who leaves Paris out of a sense of obligation to her family, versus an actual desire to go and help. When receiving the call from her niece informing her of her sister’s depression and the need for help, Hattie reacts in a unique manner. While many people would be in a panic, and seeking the next airplane, this is not the case with Hattie. Instead she reacts thusly, “I told her I would be there as soon as I could. I had no choice. There was no question. Our parents are dead. Min didn’t have anybody else. And in just about every meaningful way, neither did I” (Toews, 2008, p. 2). Hattie reacts out of obligation and because there is no one else to react; she also feels like she is alone in the world.
When realizing the need to hospitalize her sister, she decides to seek the children’s father out even though he had no part in their lives. It does not occur to her that she should take care of them. Instead she puts them in a car and heads for California in the hope of finding the kids father. At this point she is still seeking to be a wanderer, instead of truly seeking to do what is best for the kids. Ironically, it is on this road trip she finds herself. She flashes back to points in her childhood and reflects upon them. She also sees the world through the eyes of her niece and nephew. She learns that the love they have for each other as a family is more important than anything else she could seek out, and that she is not alone.
References
Toews, M. (2008). The flying Troutmans. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.
