![]() Louisa clearly has feelings for Grace that go beyond the love of family, yet Louisa fails to fully see Grace’s shortcomings. ![]() Grace, Louisa’s cousin, figures predominantly throughout much of the novel as an ideal. ![]() ![]() Although Louisa eventually learns why she was institutionalized and who was responsible, she never quite forgives or forgets and rather than sink back into expected roles of women, Louisa comes out of the asylum with greater strength and determination. Once in the asylum, Louisa routinely demonstrates her incredible strength: she tries to hold onto her sanity against incredible odds she forms a strong relationship with one of the attendants, Eliza, and she continually plots her own escape (where her medical education learned alongside her father comes in handy). Although this routinely brought her into conflict with her traditional mother, Louisa’s father, himself a physician, encouraged her dreams and allowed for a less-traditional (and much more masculine) education. From childhood, Louisa was always more of a tom boy, interested in science and experimentation, and wished one day to be a hero, to become a doctor, and to make a difference. ![]() Louisa Cosgrove/Lucy Childs narrates the novel and, at least until it becomes more obvious why she has been institutionalized, a reader might assume she is not a very reliable one. ![]()
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