Money becomes happiness and stability to Mabel's after her mother's death when she stops interacting with people. There seems to be a void in her, which is filled by her material wealth. No matter how "brutal or coarse" the environment may be, "... so long as there was money, the girl felt herself established, and brutally proud, reserved (Lawrence 61)." Without money to back her, she begins to takes on animalistic features; she's described as having a "perfectly impassive face" likened to a "'bulldog'" and possessing "steady,

dangerous eyes (Lawrence 60-1)". Money is the only thing that still makes her feel human. Her life is not worth living if she has to continually be "demeaned" by "buying the cheapest food (Lawrence 62)". Mabel's life is wrought with depression, eased, but not fully repaired, by money. Without financial stability, she feels devoid of real substance. The description of the days as "grey, deadened, and wintry (Lawrence 62)" reflects more the inner disposition of Mabel than the actual weather with her feelings that she bleeds into the scenery visiting her mother's grave.

Joining her mother in death, she reasons, is only way to escape the poverty's humility. "For the life she followed here in the world was far less real than the world of death she inherited from her mother (Lawrence 62)." She looses all touch with her own humanity. Poverty is her breaking point. She is unworthy to live, and it drives

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jack Fergusson's, Jack Fergusson, Mabel Pervin's, lawrence 62, Daughter Lawrence, lawrence 64,
Approximate Word count = 608
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)