Amy Barksdale: Difference between revisions

Amy is a half-head taller than the 5'2" Daria. She is shown with a trim but shapely hourglass figure in "I Don't" and "Through a Lens Darkly," with an oval face much like Daria's. However, her face becomes narrower and her figure thinner and less shapely in "Aunt Nauseam." Her thick, wavy hair falls to the bottoms of her shoulder blades and appears to be dark red in color in most images, though it could also be maroon or auburn. She keeps her hair parted in the middle, leaving her forehead bare. Her glasses have large round lenses almost exactly like Daria's, though she also uses contacts without the glasses. Pearl earrings decorate her ears, and she wears a necklace for formal occasions. Her coloration works best with autumn-toned clothing, again like Daria's. Like her favorite niece, Amy appears to prefer pink lipstick.

It's been said that Amy Barksdale clearly 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 family, always playing third fiddle against Rita's attractiveness and Helen's overachieving. She says she was 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 under all circumstances and bailed her out of trouble time and again. This caused Helen to become even more of an overachiever, desperate to

Amy, on the other hand, remained "barricaded" in her bedroom and read "weird Russian novels" to avoid conflicts with her sisters (per Rita in "Aunt Nauseam") and possibly to avoid her parents as well, who paid her little attention. In this way, she avoided family responsibilities and did whatever she liked (per Helen). The situation led (in Amy's own words) to “years of bitterness and resentment” between all three siblings.

As an adult, Amy can be quite sarcastic to the point of rudeness when speaking with or about her sisters, even if she's talking to her nieces. She says what's on her mind and doesn't care what anyone thinks of it. Her lack of involvement in family life has carried over to the point that Daria and Quinn barely recognize her 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.