Leonie’s and Misty’s friendship can be heavily attributed to their shared desire for drugs. While Misty is the closest relationship Leonie has to a friend, there is no genuine care for the other as the only care in the world both women have is where the next dose of drugs can be found. Leonie says that Misty is her “best friend” and her “only friend,” but this thought crosses her mind while getting high (35). Even while on the trip together, it seems that Misty’s only purpose in coming is to get drugs as Jojo notices her “trying to act like she’s not holding a paper bag tucked into a plastic bag, her arm straight as a yardstick at her side, the bag crinkling and hissing when she walks” (89).
However, there is one thing that the two women share besides drugs: both are in an interracial relationship. Although Leonie is incredibly jealous of Misty’s whiteness and the ease of life she receives as a result, she is able to initially bond with Misty because her “boyfriend was Black [and it] was one of the reasons [they] became friends so quickly” (35). This specific mention of Bishop highlights the minimal similarities between Leonie and Misty. Leonie is so desperate for friendship that the both of them simply being in an interracial relationship is enough to befriend one another.
Besides drugs and interracial relationships, there is nothing more to tie Leonie and Misty together. The friendship, if it can even be classified as such, exists only to serve each woman. Both Leonie and Misty get something they want by being in the friendship: drugs and, perhaps occasionally, relationship sympathy. If either of these two similarities were to cease to exist, the friendship would crumble. Leonie longs for a true friend, but this is the closest she can get to such a relationship because it revolves around the only two things that she truly cares about.
This was an interesting take on Leonie and Misty’s relationship. I agree with you and I believe that their friendship is transactional. I also think that their friendship came about because of convenience, they worked together and liked to use drugs. If they had met anywhere else, their friendship would not have happened. Your post made me think about Leonie throughout the novel and all her relationships to me are a matter of convenience.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this book, Leonie does not make any effort to make friends or talk to people outside her family, instead, she waits for them to come up to her or for them to be placed in a situation where they have to interact with one another. We see this in her relationship with Micheal. Their relationship started when he came to apologize for his cousin killing her brother, he says “I’m sorry my cousin is a fucking idiot” (Ward 53). Also, as you mentioned, Misty is Leonie’s only friend.
While Leonie claims that Misty is her best friend, she still has many resentments towards her because Misty is white. We see this when Leonie says “I’m Black and she’s White … I’d be the one going to jail” (Ward 36). Another part of the book that shows this is when they were going to Parchman and Misty told Leonie to “better take advantage” (Ward 91) of the trip. I think this adds to why their friendship is the way it is because they cannot truly relate to each other. As you mentioned they only have two things in common. So to answer the question in your title, their friendship is superficial.