Cara is at the hospital and witnesses Ivan abandoning Eddie. In what ways do you think the scene impacts her over the course of her life?
The author never spells that out in concrete terms, but it can be inferred from her behavior over the years, culminating with her unwillingness to abandon her father when he was older, she intuited that he was probably ill, and recognized that she might not get another chance to travel to Bali and spend time wit him. She learned a lesson early in life about the cruelty of failing to stand by someone you care about when they really need help, support, assistance, and/or acceptance.
Ii thought Cara said, at one point, that seeing Ivan abandon Eddie made her realize that we were all alone, and that sense stayed with her through her life.
I think Cara gave Ivan’s walkout about two thoughts. People do odd things. She proved to be a complete and utter airhead in her youth. I had a hard time seeing her as a sincere caring person later in life.
It impacted her enough at the time that she never forgot it. I think that it did make her feel more of a loyalty to others, including her aging father.
Cara realizes the fragility of friendships and how we are often left alone to fight our battles by ourselves. This probably influenced her decision to reunite with her father - so that he was not alone in the later years of his life.
I was hoping this character would have been more developed because of this incident. She could have had so much more depth.
Sometimes people watching gives you a glimpse of tortured lives. I think Cara realized that only a tortured person would make the choice to abandon another human being.
I think the incident stuck with her for the rest of her life, but I’m not sure it had any impact on how she behaved later on. Maybe it made her be a more compassionate and caring person, but I’m not sure it had that effect on her.
I do believe that Cara thought it was wrong for Ivan to abandon Eddie. However, analyzing the impact and knowing to what degree it affected her is difficult because - as others have mentioned- Cara was a shell of a character.
Cara is aware of people being discarded and abandoned. A theme that she carried in her life. She wants to help when possible.