58 pages • 1 hour read
Vanishing Acts
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Background
Sociohistorical Context: Divorce and Custody Agreements in 1970s America
In Vanishing Acts, Andrew argues vehemently that he had no choice but to kidnap Delia. In his opinion, it was unlikely for the father to get custody, and his prior assault conviction would preclude him from any custody rights at all. While custody laws shifted in the 1970s to gender-neutral policies, the practice was very different. Joint custody did not exist in 1979, leaving Andrew with few options (“The History of Child Custody Laws in America.” Dad’s Divorce, 2015). In 1978, only 1.6% of children were in the sole custody of their father (Sanders, Ruth and Graham Spanier, et al. “Current Population Reports: Divorce, Child Custody, and Child Support.” United States Census Bureau, 1979). With these numbers, Andrew’s fear that he would not get custody is realistic. Likewise, he would likely have lost all rights to Delia if Elise had contested his rights after Andrew assaulted Victor. A single father with a history of violence would not be viewed favorably by a court.
While divorce has always been legal in the United States, they were difficult to get until the 1950s. By 1978, nearly half of all marriages ended in divorce (Sanders). By March 1977, the time of Andrew’s divorce, the divorce process was well established in America. Without proof that Elise was incapable of caring for Delia, it was unlikely that Andrew would have won custody. Even the custody agreement, which permitted Andrew rights to Delia on weekends, would have been unusual for 1977. Again, Andrew’s fear of losing this unique arrangement if he revealed Elise’s neglect is well-founded. He was offered more than most in an Arizona court by having weekend access to Delia.
Interestingly, a large part of divorce proceedings in 1977 was the establishment of alimony and child support. Andrew, as a pharmacist, was most likely making a good living. The $10,000 in his bank account, roughly equivalent to $32,000 by the time of Vanishing Acts’s publication, indicates that Andrew was at least comfortable financially. Andrew would have made far more than Elise, a bartender before marriage and likely unemployed after marriage. As such, he would have had to pay alimony to Elise. However, alimony goes unmentioned as part of the trial, indicating that it was not an issue.
Authorial Context: Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult is the award-winning author of more than 30 novels. While she is most famous for her novels, Picoult’s writings vary from novels to librettos to even a few Wonder Woman comic books. She was a teacher and editor before she became a successful author.
Picoult lives in New Hampshire, a setting in many of her works—Vanishing Acts included. Picoult is a mother of three, which may be why family dynamics play a pivotal role in her works. Picoult frequently writes about controversial issues, such as gun violence or race relations, but focuses on how these more significant issues affect individuals. For example, in Vanishing Acts, Picoult deals with the issue of custody disputes and justifiable crime. However, rather than focusing on the larger societal impact, she shows how these issues affect the people involved. Whereas many authors would follow the police detectives and focus on the process of finding the missing child, Picoult looks at the aftermath. She examines how the missing child, the kidnapper, and the mother deal with the kidnapping 28 years later. Picoult’s style typically involves a controversial issue that causes family disputes, and Vanishing Acts is no exception.
Picoult also enjoys examining controversial issues without making a clear judgment. In Vanishing Acts, though Andrew is acquitted, he still committed a crime. While Elise’s neglect of Delia is straightforward, that was not enough for the jury to acquit Andrew. Instead, Andrew’s accusation of Victor’s sexual abuse leads to his acquittal. However, there is some doubt that abuse happened, and that ambiguity never resolves. This ambiguity is typical of Picoult’s work. While her works explore complex moral topics, Picoult refrains from taking a side. Instead, she allows readers to examine their moral views and evaluate the issue in the story’s context.
Vanishing Acts’s narrative style is also typical of Picoult. Picoult also uses multiple first-person narrators in My Sister’s Keeper, Small Great Things, and several other books. While this style affects the overall cohesiveness of the story, it allows Picoult greater range in showing how events affect different characters. This flexibility allows Picoult to highlight different stories and voices within the same narrative.
Jodi Picoult is a popular, prolific writer though her works often receive criticism because they tend to appeal more to women. Though her works have won some awards, she rarely receives much critical acclaim and continues to write about controversial issues in a thought-provoking manner.
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