Often times in life, people are faced with problems and have to learn to forgive others in order to live a happy life. In the novel, Janey’s Girl, Gayle Friesen has a very strong theme. Friesen presents the idea that forgiveness is a key aspect in strengthening and building family relationships. Without forgiving and forgetting, family members grow further apart and an individual’s life, as well as their relationship with others can be affected because of it. Janey moved away from Smallwood at a very young age when she became pregnant with her daughter, Claire, and never came back until sixteen years later. Coming back to Smallwood with Claire arises many problems and reopens old wounds because of the grudges Janey still held against many…show more content… Janey is a very secretive person who would rather look to the future than dwell on the past, even if there are still many things to fix. After arriving at Smallwood, many complications and secrets kept from Claire are revealed making Claire angry at her mother. Because of this predicament, Janey has a talk with Claire that was long overdue and at the end of it all, Claire understands her mother more and their relationship grows stronger as they become closer. Before talking things out, although Janey and Claire were already very close, Claire was always seeking Janey’s approval and never quite knew what her mother was thinking or feeling. For instance, Claire reads Janey’s diary and explains her line of thinking to Mac, “‘I found her diary and started reading it. I wasn’t going to… but last night it seemed the only way I could understand her, you know?’” Although Claire had not wanted to read her mother’s diary and invade her privacy, she knew it was the only way she could learn anything about her mother since she knew so little. This statement is further proven when Claire is speaking to her grandmother and it is said, “I nod. She know’s my mother is a mystery, too.” When Janey leaves to Toronto without Claire, Janey realizes that running away won’t do anything to help amend her relationship with her daughter. With a newfound confidence, Janey comes back to Claire and they fix and begin to mend the seams of their relationship. With this discussion, Claire understands her mother and fully forgives her for anything that she’s ever kept from her. This is shown when Claire and Janey are hugging and Janey calls herself a coward, Claire replies with, “‘You’re not a coward… And I understand about running away. More than you know. But the important thing is that you came back… It’s not too late.’” As shown above, both
