DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

This vignette is illustrative and indicative of Violet’s sense of being controlled and
trapped – she is unable control and avoid this situation despite wanting to, which
represents the sense of entrapment and passivity she experiences in her life before the
crisis.
Passivity
Being passive, and a corresponding sense of helplessness to change the
situation, is shown in the narratives of all four women. The self is cast as an object
rather than as an active initiator of action. Rachel used the phrase of being
“programmed in a direction”, (p.2) implying an almost robotic like passivity – she
unquestioningly followed out that programming. She suggested that it is a passive
and weak gender-role that underlies her passivity:
“I did not consider myself a strong woman, the first time anyone said to me I was a
strong woman, I thought to myself no, no I don’t want to be a strong woman, women
are supposed to be weak.” (p.7)
Similarly, Frances described feeling like a victim in her relationship, being unable to
control circumstances:
“Nothing was in my grasp, I got well and truly entrenched in victim status. I think I
had decided that I was a victim, therefore I was going to behave like a victim, and just
let circumstances bat me down.” (p.4)
She described herself at the time as being “just like this worn out pale little blob that
used to sit in the corner.” (Frances, p.8). This metaphor conveys the depersonalised
nature of her pre-crisis situation. Both Frances and Gemma used the same phrase of
being a ‘non-person’ to describe a sense of not fully being a person:
“I think I would have said I was a non-person, I don’t think I had any impact
whatsoever.” (Frances, p.8)
“They would have seen me as quiet, shy, fairly lacking in personality, certainly not
assertive, they would have seen me as fairly malleable and easy going, but probably
quite empty, and a bit of a non-person actually.” (Gemma, p.9)
Suppression of Passion and Vocation
All four women described a long held passion or vocation, which had been
hidden away due to its perceived inappropriateness to the domestic environment that
they existed in. These passions and vocations are career-focused, rather than homefocused
and so are dissonant with the current domestic role. Violet’s passion and
vocation was to be an artist, and says she had to suppress her desire to be a painter in
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