Review Questions: Chapter 25

1.      As Eppie ponders her current situation in her jail cell, she thinks of her life using the analogy of a piece of wood floating on the ocean.  How does this analogy match her experience?  What do the various aspects of her analogy (i.e., the boundary between air and water, the behavior of the waves, etc.) mean?  Why is the air's effect on her described as keeping her "warm and dry and visible to the lighter part of the world," while the water is described as "cold and dark and suffocating"?  What might the air represent metaphorically?  What might the water represent?  Why is it "the nature of her being to float"?

2.      In contrast to herself, how does Eppie think of Billy?  How do her thoughts highlight the differences between the two of them?  How do they simultaneously acknowledge the effect that Billy may have had on her?

3.      What is the one attribute of Billy's persona that Eppie clearly desires for herself?  From what source does she realize she must acquire this trait?