Maternal absence is one of the most powerful forces in the novel, influencing both identity formation and life choices. Through the parallel experiences of Vernice and Annie, the text presents absence as an active psychological impetus that drives behavior, relationships, and self-perception. While both characters grow up without their mothers, the nature of that loss—death in Vernice’s case and abandonment in Annie’s—creates two distinct emotional trajectories. Nevertheless, the lack of maternal connection shapes how each woman understands herself and the world.

Annie is defined from the very beginning by Hattie’s flight. Because her mother is alive but unreachable, Annie’s psyche centers the possibility of reunion. From adolescence onward, her decisions are driven by this fixation: She leaves home, travels to Memphis, and repeatedly assumes other women might be her mother. These moments, such as her encounter with the woman wearing tangerine lipstick or her repeated attempts to approach strangers in the bar, demonstrate how longing turns into obsession. Annie constructs her entire sense of purpose around finding Hattie. Even when her grandmother, Lulabelle, and Bobo urge her to let go, Annie insists that wanting her mother is “the most normal thing in the world” (188), believing it is necessary for emotional completeness.