I am responding to Kristen's post on 6/24/10
The next section that captured my attention read, "Not only were we inverts. We were inversions on one another. While I was trying to compensate for something unmanly in him, he was attempting to express something feminine through me" (98). I was intrigued by this section because it was a unique take on their relationship. They are perfect opposites. We had talked about the romance narrative being a result of opposites attracting, but this story doesn't work in the exact same manner. They are like two halves to a whole. Their relationship is not quite a romance and not quite a friendship, but they almost seem to need each other. Within the story, I think her age and the loss of her father will push her to identify herself without him, which is essential. She needs to learn who she is as a person, not who she is as opposite of her father.

I really liked the image Kristen created in terms of the father-daughter relationship we see in this text. While the two are opposites, it is evident that she was having trouble identifying herself with the shadow of her father. After reading the second half of the text, it is evident that this relationship does not change. She realizes that her and her father had a lot more in common than she initially thought. And instead of portraying her father in a negative light, she ends the text with, "But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt" (232). She comes to realization that her father had his own struggles, but he was always there for her. Ultimately, her father will always shape who she is because of his presence/influence during her life.