Although all of the Clutter deaths are incredibly tragic, there is something especially poignant about the death of Bonnie Clutter, a woman struggling to live with many regrets, and afflicted by terrible postnatal depression that has accumulated into a chronic despondency and convalescence. She once had dreams of pursing a career in nursing (a path that her second eldest daughter Beverly would go on to fulfil, perhaps one of the few hopeful elements of the novel!) and she bitterly laments that she did not see this through “just to prove... that [she] once succeeded at something.” This revelation also implies she does not consider her flourishing family a ‘success’ she has achieved, for she fears they “don’t need [her].” These feelings of inadequacy create a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby Bonnie retreats from her own life, with Nancy (perhaps unconsciously) filling the void by learning to prepare family meals and compensate for her mother’s absence.
