Character analysis

Silver Water revolves around a family’s experience in dealing with the breakdown of a daughter. There are only five characters that have presence in the story: Rose, Violet, Mother, Father and the family’s favorite therapist. These characters have different purposes in the story, not just mere characters that are interconnected because of the plot. Each of the characters tells their own short stories within the Silver Water.
Rose is the main character in Violet’s narration. She is described as a crazy girl who has snippets of sanity more when she is angry like when she declared “ That was not a successful intervention, Ferret Face” after he declares that the family reaction to Rose’s behavior is “ something that the whole family agrees upon.” Through Violet’s eyes, we can see the Rose desperately tries to reach out to reality but realizes she is becoming a burden, and she says “ don’t hate me” to her mother in an attempt to make up for what she has done wrong unintentionally.
The mother and the father are significant in the story as they present different views of how parents deal with mentally imbalanced children. One becomes too pragmatic that they become too detached with the situation, making them seem uncaring. This is significantly seen when she blatantly declares that her daughter “ doesn’t need a heart to heart talk with mom, she needs a hospital.” But it is actually their shield to cover up for their fear as can be felt when she says “ warrior queens…I raised warrior queens.” The other parent becomes the one attempting to shield himself from the reality of the situation. Like when the father insists that they talk more to Rose and when didn’t want to go to the woods when Rose finally killed herself.