“Mary Poppins Comes Back” by P. L. Travers (post 4): In first two chapters, Mary Poppins has two symptoms of multiple personality, Illeism and memory gaps

“…she looked at herself in the window…and she thought…she had never seen Mary Poppins look nicer…” (1, p. 32). This is Illeism (third-person self reference). In multiple personality, it happens when one personality refers to another personality as though they were two different persons. Search “Illeism” for past posts related to other writers.

In the first chapter, “The Kite,” Mary Poppins comes back, literally appearing from behind a cloud in the sky, attached to the string of a kite. However, when the children later ask her about this, she denies it happened, which is a cardinal symptom of multiple personality: a memory gap. Search “memory gaps.”

In the second chapter, there is a visit from the father’s former governess, Miss Andrew. Insulted, Mary Poppins forcefully sends Miss Andrew packing, but when confronted with that fact, which was witnessed, Mary Poppins has no memory of having done it.

In the first book, and continuing in this second book, Mary Poppins is portrayed as a person who usually refuses to explain herself. The reason for this has now become clear. It is not just arrogance, but a typical defense learned by persons with memory gaps, who often can’t explain themselves, because they don’t remember everything they say or do.

1. P. L. Travers. Mary Poppins Comes Back [1935]. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997.