Success and Accomplishment

The theme of success and accomplishment is paramount throughout Mary’s life. It really began in her childhood, linked closely with her success in school. Her mother demanded excellence from her, and Mary reasoned that having good grades was evidence that she was “secure in [her] place as a preferred person in [her] house and in [her] school and —probably, why not?—in the world” (29). She sums up her childhood in one phrase, but this phrase can also be seen as the dominant perspective she has in adulthood as well: “I succeed, therefore I am” (30). In her letter to a type A person, Mary describes how this need for accomplishment is such a controlling part of her personality and is how she sees herself, writing to a person with similar traits, “You see yourself the way you think the word sees you, so you...