Rose Mellie Rose

"Thanks to him I am not a virgin anymore"

This quote reveals the depth to which Mellie has become deluded by living with Rose for the first 12 years of her life. She does not realize that what the truck driver did to her was rape and that she was taken advantage of. Instead she focuses on the fact that it made her feel good. And if you haven't been taught otherwise, at age 12, why would you think differently? I believe this is only the first instance of the reader observing such evil through the eyes of an innocent child. The point is not necessarily what is happening to the child, but the fact that her innocence is juxtaposed with the evil acts of the OAT towns people.