"She told Roy that things like pictures, poetry, all that kind of stuff, she said they revealed what you were like inside. She said they revealed your soul" (pg 175).Chapter 15 and its fifteen pages of fun seemed to have many references to former chapter plots. These flashbacks were unlike previous chapters though. While every chapter is a flashback to Kathy's childhood, these flashbacks were Kathy figuring out life. Kathy has seemed to me like a very analytical teenager, but in this chapter, she is talking from her 31-year-old self more than from her early teen self. This chapter was set up as though she was writing a book for her childhood self to read to know how to react to the situations she is in, or in this case, how not to act.
Personally, I found all of this adult analysis to be fairly jumpy, but at the same time really did seem to have some good advice. In the above excerpt, Tommy is referencing the Gallery from Madame, which had been really harped upon during the early chapters of the book, but had seemed to magically disappear from memory during part two of the novel. These recurring images back up what I have noticed to be the main theme of this novel which is the power of time on wisdom. Every chapter has a very similar set up where Kathy recollects one or two major events from her childhood, then she analyses them from her grown up perspective along with how she interpreted them when they actually happened.
Now I have to wonder. When I grow up, how will I interpret my childhood choices?
P.S. Did you happen to take a random trip to Germany or Ukraine?
Ha! Maybe some students studying abroad checked your site?
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