# data[].attributes.headline
"I know what you're trying to prove," [Marilyn's mom] said. "But believe me, I will fail you if you keep this up." Then she gathered the dishes and carried them to the sink. (Ng 29)

# data[].attributes.subject
"I know what you're trying to prove," [Marilyn's mom] said. "But believe me, I will fail you if you keep this up." Then she gathered the dishes and carried them to the sink. (Ng 29)

# data[].attributes.body
Just before this quote, Marilyn was purposefully failing her Home Economics just to stand out from everyone else. To prove a point.

# data[].attributes.headline
Marilyn found herself holding her breath as he wrote his name on the board. She could see him through her classmates' eyes, and she knew what they were thinking. This was their professor? This little man, five foot nine at most and not even american, was going to teach them about cowboys? (Ng, 32)

# data[].attributes.subject
Marilyn found herself holding her breath as he wrote his name on the board. She could see him through her classmates' eyes, and she knew what they were thinking. This was their professor? This little man, five foot nine at most and not even american, was going to teach them about cowboys? (Ng, 32)

# data[].attributes.body
This was Marilyn's first impression of her future husband, which isn't much but it's something.

# data[].attributes.headline
"Stop it," Marilyn shouted, slamming her fist against the edge of the sink. "This is my life, Mother. Mine." She jerked herself free and the lipstick went flying, then skittered to a stop on the floor tiles. Somehow she had made a long red streak down her mother's sleeve. Without another word, she pushed the door of the bathroom open, leaving her mother alone. (Ng, 55)

# data[].attributes.subject
"Stop it," Marilyn shouted, slamming her fist against the edge of the sink. "This is my life, Mother. Mine." She jerked herself free and the lipstick went flying, then skittered to a stop on the floor tiles. Somehow she had made a long red streak down her mother's sleeve. Without another word, she pushed the door of the bathroom open, leaving her mother alone. (Ng, 55)

# data[].attributes.body
This takes place during her wedding, her mother seemingly dissatisfied with everything in the wedding. Marilyn however is tired of her mother's control and makes a stand here. She wants to be different from the rest, not the same like everyone else.

# data[].attributes.headline
Marilyn looked at Betty Crocker's portrait on the back cover of the cookbook... For a second, it resembled her mother. *Is there anything in the world that gives you a deeper sense of satisfaction?* (Ng, 83)

# data[].attributes.subject
Marilyn looked at Betty Crocker's portrait on the back cover of the cookbook... For a second, it resembled her mother. *Is there anything in the world that gives you a deeper sense of satisfaction?* (Ng, 83)

# data[].attributes.body
This passage reflects the deep amount of unsatisfaction Marilyn has in her own life of becoming a scientist. It also reflects how much she doesn't want to become her mother despite her forcing Lydia to follow her dreams just like her mother.

# data[].attributes.headline
I realize I am not happy with the life I lead. I always had one kind of life in mind and things have turned out very differently... I have kept all these feelings inside me for a long time, but now, after being in my mother's house again, I think of her and realize I cannot put them aside for any longer... I hope you understand why I have to leave. I hope you can forgive me. (Ng, 100)

# data[].attributes.subject
I realize I am not happy with the life I lead. I always had one kind of life in mind and things have turned out very differently... I have kept all these feelings inside me for a long time, but now, after being in my mother's house again, I think of her and realize I cannot put them aside for any longer... I hope you understand why I have to leave. I hope you can forgive me. (Ng, 100)

# data[].attributes.body
She is trying to accomplish her dreams so hard that she isn't even thinking of the repercussions this will have on her family.

# data[].attributes.headline
She would help Lydia do everything she was capable of. She would spend the rest of her years guiding Lydia, sheltering her, the way you tended a prized rose: helping it grow, propping it with stakes, arching each stem towards perfection. (Ng, 147)

# data[].attributes.subject
She would help Lydia do everything she was capable of. She would spend the rest of her years guiding Lydia, sheltering her, the way you tended a prized rose: helping it grow, propping it with stakes, arching each stem towards perfection. (Ng, 147)

# data[].attributes.body
This was the moment Marilyn unknowingly became her mother.

# data[].attributes.headline
She's not sure what she's looking for: Incriminating footprints? A trail of bread crumbs? When she was twelve, an older girl from her school had disappeared and turned up dead... She'd gone to the store to buy cigarettes for her father, and two days later they found her body by the side of the road... strangled and naked.

# data[].attributes.subject
She's not sure what she's looking for: Incriminating footprints? A trail of bread crumbs? When she was twelve, an older girl from her school had disappeared and turned up dead... She'd gone to the store to buy cigarettes for her father, and two days later they found her body by the side of the road... strangled and naked.

# data[].attributes.body
The motherly instincts are kicking in. Kinda like foreshadowing for what's to come.

# data[].attributes.headline
"They can't close the case," Marylin says. "Whoever did this is still out there... They don't know her. Someone must have taken her out there. Lured her." Marilyn hesitates, the cigarettes and condoms surfacing in her mind, but anger muscles them aside and her voice turns shrill. "She wouldn't have gone out there by herself. Do you think I don't know my own daughter? " (Ng, 201)

# data[].attributes.subject
"They can't close the case," Marylin says. "Whoever did this is still out there... They don't know her. Someone must have taken her out there. Lured her." Marilyn hesitates, the cigarettes and condoms surfacing in her mind, but anger muscles them aside and her voice turns shrill. "She wouldn't have gone out there by herself. Do you think I don't know my own daughter? " (Ng, 201)

# data[].attributes.body
There is some sort of irony in knowing she doesn't truly know her daughter. Even though Marilyn herself believes she knows her daughter very well.

# data[].attributes.headline
Tears blur Marilyn's sight. It had not been science that Lydia had loved... Everything she had wanted for Lydia, which Lydia had never wanted but had embraced it anyway. A dull chill creeps over her. Perhaps- and this thought chokes her- that had dragged Lydia underwater at last. (Ng, 247)

# data[].attributes.subject
Tears blur Marilyn's sight. It had not been science that Lydia had loved... Everything she had wanted for Lydia, which Lydia had never wanted but had embraced it anyway. A dull chill creeps over her. Perhaps- and this thought chokes her- that had dragged Lydia underwater at last. (Ng, 247)

# data[].attributes.body
This quote made me feel really bad for Marilyn. Not only did she lost her daughter, she believes that it was her dreams that sank Lydia to her death.