The story juxtaposes two basic settings: Caitlin in her old life—school, her neighbors' house, her own home—and Caitlin in the new life she has chosen—Rogerson's car and house, Corinna and Dave's house, and in her thoughts and dreams. The difference between the two arenas is vast and unbridgeable: for Caitlin, the former represents her sister and how Caitlin could never compare to her; and the latter represents a desperate but rather blind attempt to break all of the ties of the past and make a completely different life for herself, one that does not provide any basis for comparison.

She succeeds at separating herself, but in doing so she creates a life so unfamiliar that she has no basis for understanding right and wrong, and she ends up allowing herself to be harmed both physically and emotionally. Because she is in such...