The boys Elaine dates in high school are her silent companions. She controls the relationships because she understands that what boys need is silence and she gives them that. Elaine acknowledges that she does not love these boys and she doesn't take the relationships seriously. "My relationships with boys are effortless, which means I put very little effort into them." (254). The only part of the boys that Elaine claims to need is their bodies. She also needs boys to escape from the girls in her life, however. To Elaine, the boys she dates are a diversion, no more than something to take her mind off of her difficulty in dealing with girls. At this point, Elaine is innocent of the pain that men can cause because she only sees the pain that girls cause.

When Elaine reaches college, she begins a relationship with Mr. Hrbik, her Life Drawing teacher. She enters the relationship with innocenc

faced with others' desperate need. "In the clutch of the helpless I am helpless." (163).

All of the relationships that Elaine has stem from her relationship with Cordelia. She compares both the drunken woman and the poor mother to Cordelia. Of the drunken woman, she says "Her eyes are not brown but green. Cordelia's." (163). When the poor Middle Eastern mother taps her on the shoulder, Elaine turns to the girl and calls her Cordelia. The basis for Elaine's association of dependency with Cordelia lie in her childhood. Cordelia is in control of the relationship. She tells Elaine what to do and how to feel. Elaine follows her because she is unfamiliar with female relationships. After Cordelia and the other girls they are friends with abandon her and she nearly freezes to death, Elaine reaches a turning point. In her own mind, she realizes that they needed her to be there so that they could mock her. In this way, they could feel better about themselves. "They need me for this, and I no longer need them." (208). However, Elaine can't escape Cordelia's need. When they become closer again later in the novel, it takes time for Elaine to realize that she is in control. She becomes aware of this when they are in the cemetery. "... energy has passed between us, and I am stronger." (250). Elaine develops a reputation for having a mean mouth and she takes particular delight in using it on Cordelia. Cordelia reaches out to Elaine when she is put in the asylum but Elaine deserts her. Instead of feeling guilt, she feels relief. It is a false sense of relief, however. Elaine is not able to fully understand that which she began to understand as a child until t

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1132
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)