Rose Mellie Rose

"It's bad enough not knowing the new alphabet and not being registered at the municipal offices, all I needed was to come to Oat a virgin."

I thought this quote was shocking yet extremely interesting. It amazed me how a 12 year old girl could have such mature and broken thoughts. Not only is she concerned about learning the new alphabet and its meaning, but she is concerned about coming to a new place as a virgin. The thoughts she had here were also in order, you can see how first she was concerned with the alphabet, then with her grandmother not wanting her to be registered, and now, thanks to this truck driver, her most recent concern was about being a virgin. I am perplexed by the writing of this story because although we know how young she is, it is almost not surprising to listen to the way this young girl talks. At first I couldn't help but read this as sarcasm. I initially read it this way because I thought this was how she might cope with it, however after reading it over I don't see it that way.