Clock Dance

Willa’s primary character trait is passive acquiescence. When 11-year-old Willa is selling candy bars with her friend Sonya, neither girl wants to be the one to talk to their potential customers. Sonya browbeats Willa into it, arguing that she’s “much better with grownups” (7). Willa reluctantly agrees, showing how she avoids conflict to keep others happy, even if it means doing something she doesn’t want to do. A similar situation happens when Willa is upset with her father for not being thankful for her help when Willa’s mother temporarily abandons the family. When her father asks about Willa’s bad mood, rather than express her anger, Willa lies and says that she “was just overtired, I guess” (37), so she doesn’t have to have a difficult conversation. This and other such avoidance behaviors lead her father to not concern himself with Willa’s emotional well-being. Willa’s passivity means allowing others to neglect her desires and emotions.

Later, Willa’s submissiveness lands her in a potentially dangerous situation. On her first plane ride, a stranger jabs a gun into her ribs and instructs her to keep her eyes forward: “[I]t’s loaded. Move and I shoot” (48). Willa freezes in terror, never even trying to attract the attention of her fiancé Derek or anyone else who could help. Willa obeys the gunman’s orders, but only until Derek demands she switch seats with him so she can look out the window. Despite being terrified that the man will shoot her if she moves, Willa obeys Derek. She would rather risk her life than expose her negative emotions. To add insult to injury, when Willa finally tells Derek about the gun, he dismisses her fears because of her passive reaction, arguing that “it doesn’t add up, sweetie” (52). Willa’s parents also downplay what happened, going “along with Derek’s interpretation of it” (60). Willa doesn’t challenge their interpretation, even though “she felt offended” (55). The plane ordeal and the aftermath show how Willa’s passivity prevents her from fighting for herself, even when those around her doubt her.

Willa’s passivity is also tied to her lack of fulfillment. In both of her marriages, Willa makes sacrifices for her husbands, while they pursue their own desires. Derek interrupts her education even though Willa has a scholarship, she has grown passionate about linguistics, and her college professor has “got a whole plan for [her]” (44). After half-hearted protestations, Willa passively accepts that to marry Derek, she must give up her ambitions. Later, when Willa remarries, her second husband Peter moves them to an Arizona golfing community, forcing Willa “to leave behind an ESL teaching job that she loved” (110). Willa doesn’t play golf. In Arizona, “[s]he didn’t even have any women friends here, not close ones” (110). Still, rather than assert her own needs and desires, Willa passively accepts her husbands’ control even though she realizes that she is “the only woman she knew whose prime objective was to be taken for granted” (93).

Willa eventually learns that her passivity, which comes from her father’s influence, is a flaw rather than a positive quality. Ben notes that his “wife used to say that her idea of hell would be marrying Gandhi” because “Gandhi was always the good one. Everyone else looked so rude and loud and self-centered by comparison” (284), which Willa acknowledges was the dynamic between her parents. However, in that moment, she realizes that her father’s meekness causes problems for the entire family. Throughout Willa’s childhood, her father chose time and again to not hold Willa’s mother accountable for her abusive and erratic behavior, for the same reason Willa doesn’t confront her own partners: a desire to not create conflict. Unfortunately, Willa’s father’s inaction enables Willa’s mother, whose toxic impulses last until her death. Willa’s father illustrates that refusing confrontation is a character flaw that can derail multiple lives.

Willa often puts effort into those around her without receiving anything in return. Willa caters to her family, her husbands, and her sons, but from childhood, she is primed not to solicit or expect any gestures of thanks from the people she cares about. In the first chapter, when her mother has abandoned her family, Willa takes responsibility for several of her mother’s duties. She braids Elaine’s hair and reads Elaine a bedtime story, but Elaine doesn’t show any gratitude. Later, she decides to clean up as a surprise for their father, but he “said [not] one word of thanks for how she’d washed the dishes from earlier” (32); instead, he gently criticizes her for not reading the recipe properly. When she becomes a mother, Willa instills in her sons and husband the idea that they should never worry about her feelings or consider her in their decisions in any way: Her “prime objective was to be taken for granted” (93) and for her children to “never have to worry what sort of mood she was in” (93).

Only in Baltimore does Willa find a community of people who voice their appreciation of her because they haven’t grown up the way she has. When Willa announces that she’ll be staying in Baltimore while Peter flies home, Denise is genuinely grateful: “Well, gosh. I know I should be arguing, but gosh. Thanks, Willa” (195). This is the first time in the narrative that anyone has thanked Willa. Later, Ben thanks Willa for returning his cat Robert. Willa enjoys taking care of the people of Dorcas Road because she feels valued. Ben also shows Willa he appreciates her when he drops her off at the airport. He expresses, “I’ve always meant to tell you that I like the way you look at people” (286), showing his appreciation for Willa’s outlook and perception of people.

Willa reception from the residents of Dorcas Road sharply contrasts with the lack of thanks Willa receives from her family. When Willa goes to dinner with Sean and Elissa, she offers to pay for the meal. Sean responds with dismissive mockery rather than gratitude, saying, “[I]t doesn’t seem right that Peter should have to pay for a meal he’s not even here for” (221), suggesting that he doesn’t believe Willa has her own money. Willa snaps at him and pays the bill anyway, without a thank you. The dinner with Sean leaves Willa thinking about the people of Dorcas Road: The ungratefulness of her son drives her closer to those who are grateful for her. This parallels Willa’s decision at the end of the novel. When Willa flies home, she expects happiness from Peter, who has nagged her to leave ever since they arrived in Baltimore. However, instead, he sends her a terse, pointed message telling her to find her own way home. Peter’s coldness allows Willa to do exactly what he suggests—except her home is now in Baltimore, not with him.