Lucy

    Lucy throughout the whole first part of the book says that she is unhappy and has had a particularly unsatisfying childhood. For example, Lucy says "It was not my first bout with the disappointment of reality and it would not be my last" (p 4) This suggests that Lucy has become accustomed to usual disappointments in her life even though she is still at a young age. As I continue reading the story I keep searching for a concrete reason because normally when you hate something so much there is a reason. Another reminder of her unhappy childhood is when she says that "I had come to see [my mother's] loves as a burden and had come to view with horror the sense of self-satisfaction it gave my mother to hear other people comment on her great love for me" (p 36). Why is her mother's love so horrible to her? Lucy does not even open letters from her mother which would bring back memories from her homeland. I think she is trying to reinvent a new life for herself that is filled with her own happy memories. 

     If escaping her home was supposed to make her happy, it has not happened with her new location and job. I think all of her unhappy demeanor is due to her negative attitude and critical mind. Throughout the book she is critical of everyone she meets and it seems that she has not seen the goodness in some of them. Maybe if she was able to appreciate the goodness in others and remember some good experiences she would be a happier person.