Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses the novel’s treatment of death and grief, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and gun violence.

“Cass didn’t care for G.A.A. either, and she agreed about the general lack of je ne sais quoi. For her, though, the presence of Elaine was enough to cancel out the town’s faults.”

In this quote, two important characterizations of Cass become apparent: that she feels out of place in her small town because she’s not interested in the town’s culture, and that she is in love with Elaine, which prompts her to decide that she will be happy anywhere as long as Elaine is there.

“Cass’s own effect was not electrifying, and when she told people that Imelda was her mother, they would stare at her a moment as if trying to solve a puzzle, then pat her hand sympathetically, and say, It’s after your father you take, so. Elaine said it wasn’t just about looks. Imelda also had mystique, magnetism.”

This quote further develops Cass’s characterization as an outcast. She is not beautiful like her mother, and lives under the shadow of her mother’s beauty in their small town. She must contend with the condescending commentary of her beloved Elaine, who notes Cass’s lack of magnetism. In response to this kind of constant disappointment, Cass believes this means she must leave to find an identity separate from that of her parents.

“People imagined poems were wispy things, she said, frilly things, like lace doilies. But in fact they were like claws, like the metal spikes mountaineers use to find purchase on the sheer face of a glacier. By writing a poem, the lady poets could break through the slippery, nothings surface of the life they were enclosed in, to the passionate reality that beat beneath it. Instead of falling down the sheer face, they could haul themselves up, line by line, until at last they stood on top of the mountain. And then maybe, just maybe, they might for an instant see the world as it really is.”

Cass’s influential teacher Miss Grehan portrays poetry as an empowering and aspirational creative outlet that gives women the opportunity to break free from society’s chains. Seeing literature in this light inspires Cass to become a poet. Although there is a lot of chaos in Cass’s life, poetry is a genuine passion and a talent that uplifts her.