Exploitation

The author uses June’s decision to steal her late friend Athena’s manuscript as the narrative soil for her explorations regarding exploitation. When June first starts typing up the pages of Athena’s The Last Front in Chapter 2, she convinces herself that “It’s just a lark,” a mere “writing exercise” (29). However, she quickly becomes immersed in the work, trimming, decorating, and rearranging Athena’s original writing (29). She spends so much time manipulating Athena’s manuscript that she is able to convince herself that she has an equal claim to the project. Once The Last Front is picked up by Eden Press, June fully embraces the lies that she has sold to herself. Although she logically knows that she has betrayed her friend and committed a fraudulent act, June refuses to own this reality. She does not feel that she has exploited Athena’s legacy...