she'd push away....Food sickened her, and I think much of life too." The schools Emily attends later reward "the glib and quick," and since Emily is neither, the "overworked and exasperated" teachers label (and neglect) her as a "slow learner."5. Emily was "thin and dark and foreign-looking when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look" like Shirley Temple. She grows up with deep-seated fears and with an inability to make friends. She has been branded a "slow learner" and tries to escape the trauma of school by feigning illness. She bears a "corroding resentment" toward her sister Susan who "is everything in appearance and manner Emily is not." Her gifts show when on the stage she experiences for a time the recognition and approval she has long been denied. The mother recognizes and blames herself for her natural preference for the more attractive, more outgoing younger child.6. The resentment against harsh, unfeeling, repressive institutions and the feeling of bitterness at being forced to seem lacking in love give the story a strong emotional force.7. The attitude is one of acceptance of lowered expectations rather than of militancy and rebellion. The child has been denied her full potential (like many others); the mother's hope is that Emily will make the best of what she has. The attitude of resignation is one that the story has led up to with many minor and major defeats and disappointments.8. This story is an example of tightly defined limited point of view. During most of the story, we seem to be limited to the mother's perceptions and explanations. For example, the representatives of the institutions never have a chance to present their side of the story or to defend themselves against the mother's charges. ...
