In Knots

Sophie: Confined by the bland lives of her parents, Sophie yearns to express herself even if it means going to extreme lengths of lying to her parents, sneaking out, and engaging in activities that they would disagree with.

Mom: Obsessed with cleaning and maintaining a household free from anything unique, Sophie’s mom raises concerns with her husband Jim when she discovers something troubling under their daughter’s bed.

Set in the modern day.
Sophie lives with her family but struggles with their antiquated and traditional lifestyle. On the exterior, the family appears perfect, yet formulaic and ordinary. The house that the family lives in is on a street of cookie-cutter houses. They are all painted with the same beige tones with very little setting them apart. On the interior, their space has no decoration. They own simple furniture and the bare necessities of life. Day to day, Sophie’s mom runs a tight ship where she obsessively tidies up the already pristine bathrooms and waters the single houseplant kept on the dining room table.

Sophie is expected to also live this monotonous lifestyle. At best, her parents hope she spends her time reading the dictionary or staring at the walls in her ill-decorated room. At worst, she is scandalously humming a tune. In reality, Sophie wishes more for herself. She has dreams of being creative and expressing herself through art. Due to this, Sophie has, in secret, taken up knitting. She knows her parents would disapprove because they see art as useless and put emphasis on achieving career goals and completing housework.

As the story brings, Sophie appears to be a deeply unhappy and troubled teen with a far more nefarious secret than arts and crafts. The ambiguity of what Sophie is engaged in makes for a dramatic flip when all is revealed. 

Due to her home constraints, Sophie has come into the habit of going to extreme lengths to conceal her secret. She hides things under her bed, locks herself in her room, and sneaks out late at night to meet up with people. On one particular evening, Sophie’s mom enters her room to make sure it’s tidy. This pushes Sophie over the edge. Sophie storms out, leaving her mom to retrieve a sock poking out from under the bed. In doing so, she discovers something shocking and calls Sophie’s dad, Jim, to tell him she has found a needle. 

When Sophie returns, after sneaking out to meet her “dealer” at a Michael’s craft store, her mom confronts her with the knitting needle and questions Sophie’s rebellious behavior. It is then that Sophie lets it all out. She expresses her discontent: how disconnected she feels from her family and needs creativity in her life. In her compelling argument, Sophie’s mom apologizes for putting constraints on how she lives her life. In the process, Sophie feels more connected to her family while her mom has learned to find value in Sophie’s creative expression and art.