Who is Ann Benedetto from Black and Blue: A Novel and what is their importance? Black-and-Blue-(novel) English & Literature Ann Benedetto | Black and Blue: A Novel

Ann Benedetto is Bobby Benedetto's mother. Ann is very unpleasant to Bobby's wife, unwilling to accept that she must share her only child with another woman. Over the years, Frannie lives with being second best to Ann in Bobby's eyes. Once, Frannie asks Ann is she was ever beaten by her husband. Although Ann does not answer the question, Frannie can see the truth in her reaction. This truth is also apparent in Ann's refusal to believe that Bobby has done nothing wrong even after he leaves Beth Crenshaw for dead and disappears with his son. It is a reaction that is ironically similar to the one Beth has at the thought of her own son growing up to be a wife beater.