Summary

In Chapter 4, “Norma,” throughout Norma’s childhood and adolescence, Mother was protective and possessive. Father’s love “was different” (63). He often reminded Norma that Mother had lost her own parents. She had also lost many children to miscarriages. She kept Norma close, because she feared losing her, too.

Norma began to wonder why her family had so few photographs. Her parents said they had all been destroyed in a fire when Norma was little. Shortly after Norma began asking about the photos, Father let her go to church camp. It was her “first taste of freedom” (67).

Not long later, Norma sneaked into the basement and found drawers of old family photos, none of which included her. When she asked Mother about them, Mother went to bed with a headache. That night, Father let Norma have a sleepover and bought her a bike the...