As noted above, the use of language plays a particularly important role in the book, specifically in defining Laura's transformation and/or evolution from child into young woman. There is, in fact, an almost jarringly clear line of demarcation between the two, a line defined by language. While Parts 1 and 2 are written, in general, in with almost breathlessly childlike words and phrasing, , between Part 2 (which ends on December 16, 1985, when she vows to put the diary away) and Part 3 (April 23, 1986, when she picks it up again), something in the character has shifted powerfully.