“Aspects of Gunter’s behavior towards his daughter appear abusive to the modern observer, while it is not over imaginative to see in Anne’s attempts to comply with her father’s wishes a desperate effort by an unloved child to gain her father’s affection.” pg. 12
Although Brian Gunter’s actions were abusive, Anne so badly wanted to be accepted and loved by her father that she was willing to go through the torture so that he would love her and be happy. It stated earlier how her father “disliked her so much” and when she was sick he didn’t even want to help. Anne had to endure all this pain just to gain acceptance and could not go about it otherwise because she just wanted to please her father. The abuse was the most amount of attention she had received from her father and it was better than being ignored and unloved again.
I would agree with this assessment- I believe much of what drove Anne to go through this painful ordeal was to fulfill her role as a good daughter. As you said, this would include following her father’s wishes trough deception of those around her. However, I believe that another reason she did this was because it was one of few opportunities she had for purpose as the youngest daughter of an aging man. In faking her possession, she could make her father proud and find a role as more than just the youngest daughter of a family.