Pages 190 through 198 Summary and Analysis

Donna realizes she must stop relying on her characters. She begins to recognize herself as an individual, referring to herself as "I." She buys a stuffed toy to carry with her and the toy hopefully takes the place of Carol and Willie. Donna comes to terms with the real world, which it is not a victory it is a truce. She begins to accept that she is autistic. When she looks at old photos, a picture of her when she was just weeks old shows her propensity to not look directly at anything which tells her that she was born with her condition. She may have been made more miserable by a cruel mother, but her mother did not cause her condition. Her research confirms that she is a "high functioning" autistic.

Donna meets Kath who has an autistic...