The Family Labyrinth

            In The Family Fang, there is a constant struggle of Annie and Buster’s desires to remove themselves from their roles as Child A and Child B. Their distance from Camille and Caleb proved to be affective for a while until they both needed assistance. Buster needed assistance because he was injured, and Annie saw her life quickly spiraling out of control and decided she needed to remove herself completely from what she knows best, the celebrity lifestyle.

            Unfortunately, Annie cannot remove herself from her celebrity lifestyle. When she is with her parents, she and Buster are simply their subjects. The Family Fang shows a labyrinth in which Annie and Buster will never be able to remove themselves from; especially Annie. She becomes an actress so that she doesn’t have to be identified by her parents’ fame, and when she comes home, she goes back to being Child A.

            The most interesting part of this book so far for me is realizing that Annie and Buster find themselves in this labyrinth after her parents disappear. While she is sure that this is another project of theirs, and that everyone should just ignore it, she is still dead set on looking for answers about their whereabouts and their intentions. However, she often expresses to Buster how excited she is to finally not be a part of their project. Hobart tries to explain to her that if this is indeed a project, then they are reacting in the way that their parents want them to (page 198) “Can I give you a little advice? Stop looking for them.” He then continues, to say, “What do you two really want if you do find your parents? What would be achieved?” (Page 201). This is really important because finding them would achieve nothing – it wouldn’t outsmart them, it would simply be an art project ending. Caleb and Camille are obsessed with reactions, and they would be getting one from their kids who acted like they wanted nothing to do with their parents’ art projects anymore. At this point in the story, I believe that this is the reaction the parents are looking for. They want her and Buster to act like they are finally free, when in fact they are actually curious for answers. If this is all a stunt, Annie is their puppet, as is Buster. Ignoring it isn’t possible, because they are incapable of escaping their parents’ projects no matter how much they would like to.

            Lastly, Annie and Buster make plans to leave and even intend on not looking for their parents until after their meeting with the sheriff, and Annie decides to start brainstorming (page 179). “Someone is helping out parents disappear. If they planned on disappearing for seven years without any money, then they needed help from someone. And if we can figure out who that person is, we can find Caleb and Camille.” For people trying so desperately to leave their parents behind, they suddenly become so interested in finding them, even if it is part of another project. Thus, they never remove themselves from the labyrinth no matter how bad they would like to.