What role do you think the woman Billie meets at the Garden of Eden plays in the story? As off-putting as she is, why do you think Billie is drawn to her?
Th.is is an interesting questions. Charlotte feels symbolic—almost like a distorted mirror of Billie’s own internal chaos. Billie may be drawn to her because she represents something raw and unfiltered, something Billie both fears and recognizes
Charlotte appears to provide Billie with a means to cope with her own thoughts. “What would Charlotte do, say or want”? The author invented this character to enter Billie’s mind when she needed to express or consider intense emotions and situations. Billie gave her inner voice the Charlotte persona at times, and at other times Billie squelched Charlotte. In this respect, Charlotte was a psychological tool.
I think Billie sees Charlotte as someone living life on their own terms. I think that is why Billie often draws upon wondering how Charlotte would deal with certain situations.
I think Billie saw her as someone else who was different (other than herself) and she was able to relate or be intrigued by her. I think she allowed Billie to accept herself.
She realizes this woman is different from others as Billie also is .
While I was thinking about this question it hit me that I could not recall Billie talking about Charlotte at the end of the book. I quickly perused the last few chapters and the last mention I could find of Charlotte was when Billie thinks, after telling Clayton that she won’t go to Colorado with him, she tells herself that she desperately needs something to quiet Charlotte, to find a way to gain the acceptance she craved. I’m definitely not a mental health expert, but I wonder if Charlotte was almost a dissociative personality that allowed Billie to express emotions that she wouldn’t allow herself to express.
I thought of Charlotte as an alter ego. Billie held her inside and didn’t “act” as a different person. Charlotte was an inner voice until Billie didn’t need her when she grew, married, and had a family.