Who are the main characters? Esther, Mrs. Dickson, Mrs. Van Buren, Mr. Marks, Mayme, George.

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? I understand the societal pressures and influences that are placed upon certain sexes, classes, nationalities, etc. that are at work under the surface in this play.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined? I can imagine the romantic pressure felt by Esther to find a man and the stigma associated with a woman her age during this time period and being alone. People would start to see her as something is wrong with her or damaged as the reason why she is not married yet.

What do you think about what you read? I thought about how Esther who normally was so cautious, conservative, and careful with her choices rushed to marry George. Again, I think the pressure of her age, the desire for something different beside the boarding room life she was living, and the time period really made her feel pressure to jump into this marriage.

 How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? I felt sorry for Esther. She seems like such a nice, good human being. She was someone who really was headed in the right direction and had a lot to offer until she got side tracked with this idea of love and marriage. I think she wanted the idea of love and being married so bad that she let her emotions take over for her mind and she made a rash decision. I wish she would have stayed focused on her long term goal of owning the beauty parlor business, and work on the relationship with George (or other men) on the side. I have always felt like when a person is following their own passion and is busy taking care of their own business that the personal life will come, because the act of being driven and passionate about something attracts others to your positive energy. There is a say “that when you are looking for love you never find it, but when you least expect to find love that is when it finds you.” This phrase is what I mean and wish Esther would have done, instead of making an irrational decision, which was so out of character for her.

What do you want to learn more about? I would like to know more about all the characters. Is Esther pregnant, will she be able to overcome this and still find her dream? What happens to George, does he end up gambling and drinking his life away? What happens to Mrs. Van Buren, does she find the courage to break out on her own and find herself? What happens to Mr. Marks and his relationship with Esther, will they ever get together? How does Mayme move on from here, does she mend her friendship with Esther?

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? I would be devastated if I was Esther and I worked so hard on my own all my life and in one night George “some stranger” throws away my entire life’s work and dream. It would be hard to pick up the pieces and start all over, when you know how long it took the first time.

How does this reading relate to your own life? It reminds me to separate the dream from reality. We all romanticize about certain things and that is fine as long as we understand that these fantasies are different from the reality. I am sure we have all heard the phrase “nothing is what it seems.” Well there are truths to this statement. To make things worse the human mind is bombarded with so much information that it is hard to sift through and pull out the facts from the fables. We see images on the idea relationship and a kind of “perfect love” being displayed in movies, in books we read, or even on television, but we all know there is no such thing as “perfect,” everything has its limits and flaws. So this story reminds us not to get carried away with the image of perfection and to instead believe in what you know is real.