Throughout most of the novel, Shine is bent on revenge—first for Hiram’s death and later for her friend Birdie’s rape—and continually thwarted. But when she finally has a chance to exact some justice in the barn loft, Shine balks. Later, she muses that revenge had seemed “satisfying. And if not easy, at least straightforward: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But mercy? And forgiveness? That was tougher. More complicated. Meandering. Certainly not achieved in one hotheaded instant.” How does this shift in her understanding allow Shine to move forward instead of being mired in the past?