How does Annie's upbringing influence her behavior as a young adult? What leads to Annie's "bargain" with herself in the clinic in San Francisco?

Alcoholism runs in Annie's family, yet when she finds herself abroad at nineteen, she begins to drink heavily. How might Annie's upbringing have influenced this behavior? What leads to Annie's "bargain" with herself in the clinic in San Francisco, as described on page 209?

Annie was raised as a Catholic. Although she rebels against her upbringing in her teens, religious beliefs run deep. Her promise to herself to be "good" is also a deal she is making with God.

She grows up in an alcoholic family as an only child. She was somewhat isolated. Also, as an only child, she didn't have to learn to share and be responsible to others. Perhaps that's why she so willingly slept with others with little regard to the consequences.

I believe that her upbringing as an only child contributes to her selfishness as a young adult. She often "acts" without considering the ramifications of her actions on others. She was also brought up as a Catholic and I think that leads her to think she can confess, be forgiven and then all will be right with the world. Real life isn't always like that. People don't always forgive.

Annie is the true picture of the adult child of an alcoholic. She sees her mother as a victim,and doesn't want to be like her. She recognizes her father's drinking problem, but never really holds him responsible for his actions. Like an alcoholic she makes promises to herself and to others but never keeps the promises. Her trip was simply another form of escaping a life that she was not happy with, but did little to change. When sitting in the clinic with Jonathan it must have crossed her mind that there was a possibility that the baby was not his, but she refused the thought.

I thought Annie's relationship with her father was very interesting. She accepts her father as he is and doens't rail against the fact that she has an alcoholic for a father. That is simply the hand she was dealt in life and she doesn't really know anything different. Even after what was for her mother the last straw, when Annie cut her hand on a broken whiskey bottle in the trash, Annie wasn't mad. She even describes her letter at his "intervention" being made up because she wasn't actually mad about any of the things she was being told to say she was mad about. It wasn't until he left their family and moved off alone to Maine that she became angry with him. I just thought that was a really interesting side that we're shown of Annie while she's growing up.