Throughout the novel, Beth is confronted with the woman she once was versus the woman she has become. What do you think the author is saying about identity, particularly how it is shaped by love, grief and time?
All humans change. Time affects us all, and people change. Love, loss of love, and unavoidable grief - if one lives long enough- are such intrinsic parts of life that I did not stop to make notations about possible themes while reading this book. It was an unavoidable part of the plot and sometimes was very heartbreaking.
I think we can be many different things all at once and that our lives add to who we are from our experiences piece by piece. Things we experience whether they are joyful or sad, different kinds of love, different ways to make a living ect… all add to our personalities and how we see and experience life.
Wherever you go in life and whatever experiences you have become a part of you.
Beth matured, and with that maturity she could be expected to change. The experiences she had with love, loss and grief were definitely factors in her growth. It’s impossible not to change as you go through life.
I think so much has to do with maturity - Beth was so young when she met Gabriel and so unsure of herself. She believed what others said about her and didn’t really know who she was. And then she got pregnant, which I’m sure really threw her for a loop. The common sense side of me says, why didn’t she just tell Gabriel? But then this book would have been totally different!
Love and grief can be experienced differently throughout our lives depending on the time we experience it leading to a change in our identity.
What happened in Beth’s past resonated in the present, changing Beth’s emotions. Despite the forces of love, grief, and time, she still had a degree of control of who she was and what she wanted for herself.
Even though she felt sorry for the people she was hurting, she continued thinking of her sentiments without thinking of the consequences.