Difference of Rooms

Lucy has preconceptions about coming to the United States. She describes herself as excited and her expectations for what the experience will be like are high. However she finds herself disappointed, "Now that I saw these places, they looked ordinary, dirty, worn down by so many people entering and leaving them in real life" (4). This description gives a depressing outlook for Lucy's mental state in the city. Also the room that Lucy moves into when she comes to the United States is a maids room that has been converted into a living space for her. It is described as a confining space, "this was a different sort of small room. The ceiling was very high and the walls went all the way up to the ceiling, enclosing the room like a box." (7). These two scenes portray Lucy as feeling trapped in her surroundings even though she has escaped from her home country where she was haunted by her experiences.

In contrast to these images, when Lucy goes to the Great Lake she is for the first time able to focus clearly on herself. She also describes her surroundings around her differently, "The house in which Mariah had grown up was beautiful, I could immediately see that" (35). For the first time she feels secure and at home "I slept peacefully, without any troubling dreams to haunt me; it must have been that knowing there was a body of water outside my window, even though it was not the big blue sea I was used to, brought me some comfort"(35). The simple change of scenery causes Lucy to change her outlook on the world and not see it through such a negative light.

I think that this will be the place for Lucy to change and grow as a person. Its a place where she is removed from a dense population, where the influence will be sparse around her. I think that this will be a time where her and Mariah will push each other to reveal their struggles and grow as individuals together.