The Room Theory: Breast Cancer

[Nergol]

This one is one I heard somewhere, but I'll pass it on:

Now, we all know that Claudette (aka Lisa's Mom) is manipulative, narcissistic, and dishonest. Would it surprise anyone that, with these qualities, she was also a hypochondriac? Maybe what we don't know is that this is about the thousandth time Lisa has heard her mother claim to have some disease or another in order to get sympathy or attention. In fact, it is just when Lisa is getting married (and is therefore herself the center of attention) that a narcissistic hypochondriac might pull something like saying she has breast cancer out of the hat. Now, with the wedding coming up, the last thing that Lisa would want to do would be to start an argument with Claudette by telling her that she's a liar or a hypochondriac, so Lisa does the only thing she could in such a circumstance - by dismissing Claudette politely but firmly with a vague comment on how they're curing lots of people every day, and then not bringing it up ever again.

So, under this theory, the whole breast cancer thing not only makes perfect sense, but even serves an important purpose in the story by establishing Claudette as a manipulative narcissist - a quality that she seems to have passed down to Lisa.

[doggans]

Another theory I support, especially given Claudette's earlier woes about nobody listening to her. If she's not a hypochondriac, she's at the very least an attention whore.