Helen

Helen is the protagonist of the novel. She does not change much over the incredibly short time span of the novel’s present tense, but she undergoes dramatic changes in the time before the novel begins. This is all explored through flashbacks to previous times in her life.

One of the defining characteristics of Helen is her thoughtful and introspective nature. She spends almost all of her time in the present tense of the novel in her home with her newborn daughter. She has nobody to talk to who can understand her or who can speak back to her, so she spends much time in her thoughts. She has spent a lot of time reading and listening to the thoughts of experts and thinkers. One of these is Winnicott whose audio recordings on motherhood she listens to. She also has read John Dewey and contemplates his thoughts in...