Development Starts from Day One by Julia Niemi

White Oleander is about the relationship between mother Ingrid and daughter Astrid, which appears to be more of a friendship. Ingrid murders an ex-lover because he would not help her to advance her career. While Ingrid is in jail and going through her trial and appeal, Astrid goes through multiple foster care homes and orphanages. Through the movie, Astrid relationship with her mother grows and falls as Astrid tries to figure out who she is, and whether she should seek her mother’s approval or not.

Throughout the different homes, Astrid experienced different parenting styles. The parenting style that had the greatest effect on Astrid was the one her mother used. Ingrid was not prepared for a child when Astrid was home. She dropped Astrid off at a baby sitter’s house, and left for a year. The year she was gone was the year Astrid (as well as other babies) become attached to their mothers, but Astrid was not able to do that because her mother was neglectful. The following is the clip from the movie of Ingrid admitting to Astrid that she left her.

Although Ingrid comes back, she continues to be neglectful. She drags Astrid along to her lover’s house, and leaves her in the car for hours, not caring what Astrid thinks or feels about the situation. Ingrid does not care that what she does has an effect on Astrid. She will leave her in the car for hours because she has too many other plans to worry about Astrid’s life. It appears that this is not the first time Ingrid has left Astrid for hours at a time. This scene starts at 1:00 and ends at 2:25, when Ingrid finally decides to return to the car.

A neglectful parenting style is a parent who is permissive and not involved in their child’s lives. An everyday example of a neglectful parent is a parent who does not send their child to preschool, because he/she does not care. Children who have neglectful parents are insecurely attached and have problems building and maintain relationships. This can be seen in Astrid, where she is not able to become close to anyone, and as soon as she does, she feels the need to pull away, which is seen in her relationship with Claire. She also attempts to become close to people who she should be avoiding, which is seen in her relationship with Ray.
Another psychological principle seen in the movie is Erikson’s theory of identity versus identity confusion, which is one of his stages of human development. Erikson had trouble fitting in and feeling like he belonged, because he came from Jewish and German decent. Since he did not look the same as the people he grew up around, he felt as if he did not fit in anywhere. He created eight stages of development to explain how an infant turned into an adult, psychologically, and how they would eventually grow up to fit into society. The theory of identity versus identity confusion is his fifth step. In this stage, adolescents face the challenge of finding out who they really are, what they are all about and where they are going in life. In order to do this, they have to explore different paths. Identity confusion happens when the adolescence is not able to find “who they are.” The two outcome of identity confusion are withdrawal and isolation from peers and family, or losing themselves in the crowd. This last scene of the movie (which is also the first scene) shows the identity struggle that Astrid went through in her life. The scene starts at 2:45

In this scene, Astrid is creating models of the different places she lives throughout her life in suitcases. The first suitcase was with the women she lived with and worked for her business of stealing and reselling. It was red and crowded with the “junk” that she sold. The next suitcase was Claire, which was bright, and happy. She filled it with pearls and other jewels, and had a picture of her and Claire smiling. The next suitcase was from her time at the orphanage, and was filled with her hair, which she cut at the orphanage. The next suitcase looked like a mix between a church and a brothel, when she stayed with Starr. The final suitcase was from her real home, with her mom. It had a sun painted on it, white oleanders, her mother’s favorite flower, and a picture she drew of her mother. Each suitcase represents her attempting to fit into a new home, and figure out who she truly is. For her mother, she tried to be the perfect daughter and an artist. For Starr, she tried to become “saved by Jesus,” but also had a sexual relationship with an older man. In the orphanage, she cut her hair to try to look tough in order to protect herself. With Claire, she became more feminine, and was truly happy in that situation. At the business, she did not really know how she fit in, other than selling whatever she could for money. In all of these places, she found a way to continue to make art, which is what she truly loved to do. The type of art she did changed throughout the places she lived in, in regards to her attempting to fit in. With these art projects, she was able to find where she fit or where she didn’t.