In the novel “Mary Jane”, by Jessica Anya Blau, Maryjane is a fourteen year old who has lived a very stringent life but once she has been given a job to babysit five year old Isabelle (Izzy) Cone, she starts experiencing a more “lively” teenage life. From a conservative household where Mary Jane had to be a proper girl to experiencing a liberal household where Izzy and Mary Jane could eat fast food and yell to talk to each other, Mary jane learns about a life that she would have never expected to have been involved in.

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Mary Jane, a fourteen year old who comes from a strict and conservative family where being professional and traditional is the only way to be successful. During her childhood, she would stay close to her mom, finding that she was pretty different from the other kids,for example she found enjoyment in cleaning rather than playing around like kids her age. One day, she becomes a babysitter to the Cone’s five year old daughter Isabelle, better known as Izzy. She gets introduced to a lifestyle that is contrasting to her own. She expected a doctor's home to be facsimile to hers, clean and proper. But when she gets introduced to a new perspective it allows for her to think about how there is much more to life. 

Evidence( p.1, p.2&3, p.5&6) 

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Throughout Mary Jane’s Childhood, she was taught that she should always be formal, proper, clean, and that you shouldn't be vulgar and dress to the best of your ability. Since she was raised in a conservative and religious household, she is very excited about her new job, a job that allowed her to experience a new perspective on how different lives could be compared to her. When she called her house to see if they could get food, she began lying to her mom when she normally wouldn’t just because she wanted to experience something fun and different from what she found normal, something that she found intriguing as she wasn't able to have a “Normal” childhood. 

Evidence (p.3 p.5 p.9 p.14)

Mary Jane is a 14 year old teenager partaking a job as A Nanny of Elizabeth(Izzy)  Cone during the Summer. Mary Jane seems to connect a lot with Izzy because of her introverted nature towards kids her age and her extroverted personality when hanging out with her mom. Mary Jane seems to relate with Izzy because “she too had been a girl that only wanted to hand out with her mother”(pg 2). Mary Jane was like this because when she tried to fit in with toher girls of her age, its sense of awkwardness made it impossible for her to fit in among the other girls. Whenever she attended sleep overs “she felt like she was from another country (pg 3) which caused her to struggle in social situations with person’s her age.This reflection and background information on how Mary Jane struggled to socialize with Kids her age connects her with Izzy cone who has the same problem as well.

The Setting of the Novel takes place in 1975 as described during (Pg.1) in Baltimore Maryland in the United States. During this time the United States was a very conservative, religious, and honorable nation. Technology wasnt at its upmost rise among citizens of the world, and addictions werent as frequent to be seen. This provided a sense of Innocence given towards Mary Jane as the Protagonist to the novel. Mary Jane is described as this innocent girl who is embarrased at the fact of Mrs.Cone and Mr.Cone Kissing each other on the lips(pg.6). Her view of the world and view of sexuality isnt as altered as it is on modern times. Mary Jane lives a sane childhood in a honorable respectful strict household. Mary Jane’s Mom teaches Sunday School in their local Presbyterian Church where she partakes playing the Guitar and singing worship songs with her mom and the kids in Sunday School(pg.14). Mary Jane also partakes in a youth choir and a Summer choir during the Summer (pg.14). This timeline ans this lifestyle Mary Janes has gives her a sens of innonces because of the fact that she hasnt been introduced to all the malice and evil of society among the world. 

• Mary Jane was born into a conservative household. She was taught from a young age that since she is Christian she should go to church often, that she should clean instead of being messy, that she needed to be proper in order to have a stable life when she grows up. As she began to find interests in helping babysit the Cone's daughter Izzy, she found herself having fun and enjoying things that were different from what her parents thought as proper. She knew that her parents didn't agree with what the cones had valued so she began to lie to her parents. When she called her mom to ask about dinner, she began to lie saying that Mrs.Cone was sick and that Dr.cone was busy. She continues lying when she sees her at the grocery store and saying that she was there to buy aprons.

  • Every time Mary Jane began lying to her parents, she knew that deep down she would have been in trouble. She knew that if she were to tell her mom the truth about the Cone's household (like being a carefree liberal house hold & how they had an addict in their house);That Her parents would disagree with the cones values and that the differences between them would split Mary Jane from Izzy and her chance at freedom.

This Contrast and Contradiction towards Mary Jane’s morals and values connect to how the way she is living with the Cones contradict her seriousness of approaching life. The Fact that she is raised in a home that is perfectionist in everything like on how their house looks, on how precisely they cook their food, and how they dress, speak, approach people etc, makes Mary Jane a very serious teenager in all aspects of life. Then, she now hangs out with the Cones which are not very serious in how they approach their lifestyle they are very messy, they dont cook, they wear whatever clothes they want, and izzy roams around the house with no clothes on. This way the Cones live contradicts the seriousness of Mary Janes life and if her parents were to find out how the Cones live they wouldnt approve. Although Mary Jane is very aware that her parents wouldn’t approve of how the Cones lived, she views it as acceptable because once and for all she feels like she belongs in a place, that she belongs with the people that she is around with, that she has finally found purpose.

This most connects to my big idea of "change". Mary Jane has started to change little by little from the conservative and strict lifestyle that she had into the more liberal lifestyle that the Cones have.

Throughout the story, Mary Jane has received advice from her mom. As her family has very conservative and Christian views, the advice her mom gives her is how to be the best and how to be a “Proper girl” and emphasized traditional family roles and expectations for women. From a young age, Mary Jane's mother had taught that she should be clean and clean well, that she should dress properly in order to look proper and modest was needed to be professional, and that she needs to cook and do well in her household. This advice is crucial to Mary Jane's future because her Mother just wants her to have a life that fits a conservative wife's life. 

While her mother taught her this advice to be proper, as she began to work at the Cone’s house with their family with Sheba and Jimmy, Mary Jane soon saw how different their lives were from each other. The Cone’s and the Dillard household are completely different. While Mary Jane's mother taught her that she needed to be clean and properly dressed, At the Cone’s Izzy is being raised differently. Izzy’s household has liberal views and they don’t really care about being traditional. As we read, we saw that the Cone’s never really cared about being clean, their poor eating habits, and that they dressed however they wanted. At first Mary Jane thought of it as odd but she is finding joy in the differences that each family has. 

Mary Jane knew that her parents and her beliefs about others religion and race didn't correlate with each other. In school Mary Jane was taught that the same horrible stuff thought history; the holocaust, racism, and the civil rights movement weren't just supported in history by people she didn't know, but her own family. In addition to learning about history and what has happened, she also understands that what her father says about Jewish people isn't true because she knows DR.Cone doesn't act the way that is the stereotype. By having this discussion with her parents, I think it will allow Mary Jane to have her own perspective of what she believes to be right and wrong apart from her parents beliefs.