Lydia is a complex character who provides a very good means for developing the different themes surrounding an exploration of immigrant life. She has a fertile imagination and a strong memory, but she is also determined and not unintelligent.

She has very definite values about how she sees herself and how she feels is the proper way to act, which she enforces for herself and her family. She has a very high view of herself, which prevents her from slipping into despair over the turn of events in her life. She does experience isolated moments of despair, when reality manages to break through the defensive barrier of her imagination, and she feels that she will not win the lottery or be whisked away by a rich handsome gentleman, that she will never be rich, so she must make her way the best that she can, but for the...