carbuff
Well-Known Member
I couldn't find a closer comparison than this side by side, and it's not close enough to do an overlay with--at least not with my level of skill.
Anita's head is tilted at an odd angle in both of her portraits. I had an artist friend who does portraits look at them and he thinks the angle is what makes her jaw look odd and off center--the side facing us appears more prominent because of the lighting and the foreshortening of the entire face. But he also thought that the unusual angle might be to try to minimize the appearance of an irregularity with her jaw.
As far as how her family could lose track of her--it's nice to think that all families are close and loving and try to keep track of her, but it's sadly not true for millions of people. Tens of thousands of kids every year are "throwaways," kicked out of their homes for lifestyle or behavior issues. Many more than that run away to escape violent, repressive, abusive, or otherwise intolerable situations. And many more just drift apart. There are financial issues, maybe health issues, younger kids at home needing attention, and the oldest can be gone a while before anybody really realizes they haven't been heard from for a while.
And in this day of electronic attachment, it's hard to visualize how difficult it was to keep track of each other then. We didn't have cell phones or email or anything that traveled with us like that. Phone numbers were attached to places. If you wanted to get hold of somebody who was maybe moving around or couldn't afford their own land line, you'd call the apartment office, or a friend, or a place of employment, and leave a message for them to call you back. And then maybe have to wait for the person to gather enough change to pay for a long distance call from a phone booth to call you back. Or you could send a postcard or letter and hope that if they had moved, the letter would get forwarded.
I know for a time the number my family had for me was a friend's number because I didn't want them to know I was living with my boyfriend. She'd say I was out and take a message, then call me at his place to deliver the message. That only lasted for a while but I can picture a lot of scenarios where I could have disappeared willingly or unwillingly and my family would have no idea where I had gone or why.