Amy Barksdale: Difference between revisions
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It's been said that Amy Barksdale has mild amounts of psychological damage imposed upon her by her family. It becomes obvious from what she says that she was the forgotten baby of the Barksdales, always playing third fiddle against Rita's attractiveness and Helen's overachieving. She was largely ignored by her sisters, who constantly and ostentatiously struggled for attention from their parents. ("You didn't notice my sisters are so busy competing with each other that I don't even register on their radar?" she asks Daria in "I Don't.") Amy's mother, and possibly her father as well, strongly favored Rita; she also pressured the girls to be more like Helen, who had become an overachiever.
Amy, on the other hand, dropped out of sight. She remained "barricaded" in her bedroom and read "weird Russian novels" to avoid the conflicts with her sisters (per Rita and Amy "Aunt Nauseam") and possibly to avoid her parents as well, who paid her little attention and offered no appreciation for her achievements.
The situation led, in Amy's own words to "years of bitterness and resentment" between all three siblings. "Nauseum" reveals that while she resents Rita being the favourite, she also resented ''Helen'' for showing them up and holds her in contempt for "nursing [her] childhood grudge" with Rita "well into adulthood". It's also Helen that gets the sharpest barb in "I Don't": Amy's first words to Jake are to commend him for staying married to her. Amy also grew to resent her mother, and has effectively cut off ties with her, claiming she "never offered us the slightest bit of encouragement or appreciation".
As an adult, Amy is sarcastic to the point of rudeness when speaking with or about her sisters, even if she's talking to her nieces or her sister's spouses/boyfriends. She says what's on her mind and doesn't care what anyone thinks of it. (In "I Don't," she feels "no particular obligation to listen to anyone else's B.S. Ever.") Her wit is quick but with a sharp, angry edge. Her lack of involvement in Barksdale family life has carried over to the point that Daria and Quinn barely recognize Amy when she appears in "I Don't." Amy can't recall whether Daria is in high school, college, "or something." She's deliberately remained out of the picture for decades, a willing and determined outsider who is always "out of place" when with her siblings.
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