Overthinking the Unnamed Woman

    In the second part of Souvenirs, Jason encounters an unnamed woman who has two children; Pippin (Pips) and Yvette. Yvette is fifteen years old when Pippin is ten (190), mirroring the five year age gap between Jason and Julia. The woman is also divorced, much like Jason's parents by the end of the story.

    The woman starts their conversation by almost immediately comparing Jason to her son in how kindhearted he seems (189) before going into a monologue about how useless men are, and her relationship with her son. Throughout the story, it's obvious that the mother is either oblivious or doesn't mind her son's bad decisions; "Pips understands. Pips says, ‘Let’s call these pills yours, Mum. They’re our secret, but say, if anyone asks, they’re yours.’" (190). Yvette, mirroring Julia once again, plays the role of the responsible older sister; flushing Pippin's stock of drugs down the toilet and calling the police on him. Sometime after this, Pippin ran away from home and hasn't so much as communicated as of the present day. 

    The story is notably told during the mom's part of the chapter, which I initially strange since Jason's mom doesn't seem to have any substantial similarities with the random woman, other than their faith in their respective son's moral character. Even then however, their relationship with their kids differs; Jason's mom supports Julia and her relationships (108), but the unnamed woman talks about Yvette's marriage like its the reason why Yvette is so outspoken (190), Jason is reprimanded when he does something wrong (200), but Pippin is characterized as almost saintly. For these reasons, the author isn't trying to compare Jason's mom and the unnamed woman.

On the contrary, the author is definitely trying to draw out some comparison between Jason's father and her own ex-husband since:

1) This interaction takes place shortly after Jason's dad's part of Souvenirs, so when the woman says "A father will always turn on his son in the end." (190), we're obviously going to be thinking of how Jason's own father sided with his boss over his son; when despite knowing that Craig Salt was objectively wrong about the fossil, he let his boss' incorrect assertion supersede his own verified knowledge, and tried telling his son that “If Mr. Salt’s sure, Jason— [then it's true]” (187).

 2) Description of woman's ex-husband beyond her personal feelings is entirely absent, but given that this doesn't take place long after Jason's dad's part of Souvenirs, and the preestablished similarities between Jason's life and the woman's life, we can assume that we're meant to fill in the blanks or at least let ourselves be reminded of Jason's dad.

    That could be the full extend of the depth of this interaction, but I would like to go as far as arguing that we're meant to interpret Pippin as a sort of Unborn Twin. On page 289, Jason briefly ponders the idea of more Unborn twins;" “Since we were growing up.” Cynthia was working hard to iron out any extra meanings. “In Derbyshire.” Longer than Mum, then. If Dad’d married this Cynthia in the first place, instead of Mum, and if they’d had a son, would it have been me? Or a totally different kid? Or a kid who’s half me? All those Unborn Twins’re a numbing prospect." If we're meant to sort of substitute in Jason's father and sister in this random woman's story, then I believe that the author is trying to give us a glimpse at what could've been.