The (m)other-daughter relationship in McCurdy’s I’m glad my mom died: codependency, anorexia nervosa, and self dis(re)covery

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on clinical psychology, psychosexual development and gender studies, this article examines the mother-daughter dysfunctional co-dependent dyad and eating disorders in McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died, a memoir that McCurdy published 10 years after the death of her mother. With a focus on Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, this article scrutinizes the control-based mother-daughter relationship between Jennette and her mother Debra. This paper closely studies the internalized overbearing (m)other figure in McCurdy’s memoir in relation to McCurdy’s internalized anorexic voice in light of the dysfunctional co-dependent mother-daughter relationship. This ambivalent mother-daughter relationship is illuminated through inappropriate caretaking, manipulation, parentification, projection and intrusiveness, which are effects of co-dependency. Laced with shame and economic guilt, this enmeshed mother-daughter relationship shapes McCurdy’s memoir-pathography. Paradoxically, we contend that the loss of this ambivalent mother-daughter relationship is what triggers McCurdy to start her journey of self dis(re)covery through the writing of her memoir, thus reclaiming her subjective identity and agency.