In Tracy Letts' play, August: Osage County, each of the Weston daughters – Barb, Ivy, and Karen – shows evidence of Deep-rooted emotional damage. Much of the emotional damage suffered by the girls can be attributed to their upbringing and the harsh treatment of their mother, Violet. Although all three girls experience emotional damage at the hands of their mother, each reacts to it differently and the repercussions of this emotional damage manifest in different ways in each girl. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Weston's youngest daughter, Karen, is emotionally damaged due to the lack of attention she received from Violet as a child. Violet's neglect of Karen appears several times during the dinner scene. The first time, Violette mentions the buffet in her dining room. She first addresses Barb and asks, “Are you interested?” (Letters 86). When Barb shows no interest, Violet turns to Ivy, who says the same thing. Throughout the conversation, Karen intermittently says that she thinks the buffet is "really pretty" (Letts 86). However, she receives no recognition and is ignored by her mother. This interaction shows Karen's underlying need to be noticed by her mother, due to the lack of attention she received her entire life. Another example of Karen's emotional distress occurs in Act III, when Violet tells the girls the story of the boots. Karen adores her mother when: “Violet sits, exhales. Karen takes some hand cream from the nightstand and rubs it on her hands” (Letts 106). This action shows that Karen is still trying to get on her mother's good side, even as an adult woman. Later in the same scene, Violet tells the girls that "my mother was a mean, mean old lady." I guess that’s where I got it from” (Letts 107). Karen kindly responds, “You’re not mean. You are our mother and we love you” (Letts 107). Karen's deep emotional damage is present here because, even though Violet has spent the afternoon verbally eviscerating every member of the family, Karen still tells her mother that she is not evil - as untrue as that may be. be - to get along with her. The emotional damage that Violet inflicted on Karen as a child is also evident in Karen's past love life. Karen talks about a man named Andrew, with whom she had a relationship. He was verbally berating her and cheating on her, but Karen was like, “No, you love him, you love him forever, and here's your chance to make an adjustment in the way you see the world” (Letts 59). Andrew almost directly mirrors Violet and the way she acts towards Karen, and because Karen is trying so desperately to be loved by her mother regardless of her abusive tendencies, she doesn't understand that that's not how one should be handled by another human. Steve then enters Karen's life, and it's yet another mistake. Karen seems to be attracted to cruel people due to the fact that she has pursued her mother's cruel love all her life. Violet's neglect of Karen rooted the emotional damage deep within her psyche and ultimately transformed Karen into a codependent, soulless woman. Ivy, Weston's middle daughter, suffers her own type of emotional damage at Violet's hands, but in contradictory ways. to Karen, and also leads to different consequences. Ivy is the only girl left in Oklahoma to care for her parents, and as a result, she has much more face-to-face contact with her mother.Unlike Karen's lack of attention from her mother, Ivy gets the majority of her mother's attention because she stayed close to home. The overexposure to Violet that Ivy is exposed to creates a very muted exterior in Ivy. In Act I, Violet begins to question Ivy about Barb and her side of the family. Ivy responds very succinctly: necessary words, giving no additional information beyond what is necessary. Violet then begins to berate Ivy, calling her "desperate" and a "schlub" (Letts 25). Violet's volatile temper is directed at Ivy so often that it begins to degrade her self-image. Constantly being insulted and having her appearance denigrated takes its toll on Ivy, but not as obviously as one might think. Later in the play, Ivy is shown to be a very passionate and caring woman when her relationship with Little Charles is introduced. Ivy's sober exterior comes from emotional damage caused by years of Violet's harsh words. Ivy has learned to stay calm and she doesn't try to defend herself or question her mother, because she knows that will only inflame her mother's anger. Violet inflicted so much emotional damage on Ivy that she transformed her presence from a passionate, lively woman to a quiet, lonely woman. Ivy also seems to absorb some of the contempt her mother directs at her. At the beginning of Act III, Ivy makes it very clear to her sisters that she does not "feel that [sisterly] bond very keenly" and sees them only as "accidentally connected by genetics, a random selection of cells." Nothing more” (Letts 102). The emotional distance between Ivy and her sisters is due to an underlying anger, as she "does not appreciate the responsibility she had to take to watch over the horror of her parents' final years" (Isherwood). Violet's neglect of Karen may have made her a more outspoken and dependent person, but Ivy suffered from overexposure to Violet and ultimately became a shell of her former self. Barbara, or Barb, is Weston's eldest daughter and displays her emotion. damage in a way entirely unique to that of its two sisters. In Act II, Bill describes Barb by telling her, “You're caring, Barbara, but you're not open. You are passionate but you are tough. You’re a good, decent, funny, wonderful woman… but you’re a pain in the ass” (Letts 77). Harsh as they are, such descriptors can only be expected from Barb, given her status as the eldest child. Barb definitely shouldered the burden of being the eldest child and had to serve as a role model to her younger sisters, especially when Violet had her tantrums. Barb's emotional damage runs deeper than that of her sisters and manifests as a power complex. The most obvious example of Barb's power complex occurs at the end of Act II, when Barb physically snatches a bottle of pills from her crying mother and shouts at her, "I'm running things now!" (Letters 97). This quote may seem simple in meaning, but the underlying connotation is much heavier. In the context of the scene, this line indicates that power has passed from Violet to Barb, ultimately transforming Barb into a newer version of her mother. This shift in tone at the end of Act II sets up later events in the rest of the play. A more disguised example of Barb's need for power occurs directly after Steve is caught harassing Jean in the middle of the night. When Barb and Bill approach the scene, they are upset by what has happened and immediately begin asking Jean what is going on. Jean tells them several times that nothing happened and..