Content Warning: This section contains discussions of suicide, mental illness, and bullying.

Eudora Honeysett, the protagonist of the novel, is a dynamic character who drastically changes her perspective over the course of the novel. The past—in particular, her troubled relationships with her mother, Beatrice, and sister, Stella—has heavily influenced her emotional status at the beginning of the novel, when she feels lonely and unloved. Her isolation is partly self-imposed, as she has a dim view of other people: “Everyone is selfish and caught up with themselves these days. They have no time to notice her or others like her” (22). Her standoffishness causes others to respond in kind, contributing to her self-fulfilling prophecy that she will be alone forever. Her unhappiness is so extreme that she seeks assisted suicide as a “solution,” though she insists that she simply wants to exercise control over her death.

Eudora’s transformation over the course of the novel is profound and centers on Reconciling with the Past and Embracing Second Chances. Her neighbors, Rose and Stanley, are the catalyst for her change from a grumpy woman ready to leave the world forever to a content, emotionally involved pseudo-grandmother and friend.