“Pineapple Street” (post 3) by Jenny Jackson: Why Georgiana has features of multiple personality in a novel that is not about multiple personality

The Multiple Personality Defense

Multiple-Personality usually begins in childhood, because young children cannot physically escape trauma, but may be able to psychologically escape trauma by imagining that it is happening to somebody else: alternate personalities (alters). 

Memory Gaps

The alters’ separate memory banks make the person prone to memory gaps, as noted in post 2 regarding the major character, Georgiana.

Two-Person Name

Georgiana’s very name suggests multiple people (George and Anna). Did the author have a subconscious reason for naming her that way?

Wants to be Someone Else

Georgiana doesn’t want to merely improve. She wants to “stop being herself and start being someone else” (1, p. 247). This is a multiple personality solution.

Age and Gender Idiosyncrasies

And since the alternate personalities of a person with multiple personality often include child-aged alters, and personalities of each sex, it is noteworthy that Georgiana is sometimes tempted to play with children’s toys (1, p. 275) and often uses the nickname “George” (1, p. 275).

Why is it in this novel?

Since multiple personality, per se, does not appear to be an intentional feature of either the plot or character development of this novel, the inadvertent presence of its features in one of the main characters may reflect multiple personality trait of the author.

1. Jenny Jackson. Pineapple Street. Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, 2023.