Tonight in English 200 we discussed "The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf." Phrases of conversation that stand out for me now: "hitting rock bottom" and "going through the dark places."
Inger must negotiate the dark moments of her life. She must hit rock bottom before she can begin her transformation into something better, something higher. Inger is transformed from a self-absorbed adolescent to a person capable of empathy.
Karma. Her selfishness has turned her stone, into a person who hungers and thirsts but cannot be filled; a person who wants to cry but cannot. We rarely experience instant transformation. Change is hard and usually resisted. Old habits and beliefs are comforting. For over a hundred years, she continues to harden her heart, to blame others.
Finally she is released from her self-constructed prison through the grace of another person: a person who does not judge Inger but who instead empathizes with her, admitting her own frailties.
Inger sheds her obsession with beauty and clothes and attends to the state of her soul. She becomes part of the sun: something bigger than herself, more beautiful than strutting around in beautiful clothes. She is love.
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