Week 2

"Cecilia's diary begins a year and a half before her suicide. Many people felt the illuminated pages constituted a hieroglyphics of unreadable despair, though the pictures looked cheerful for the most part." (pg 41)

As I continue reading this novel, Cecilia's mental instability becomes very clear. It is almost painful to read about her downfall. As an outsider, I was able to see her despair, but the ones around her could not, and this lead to her death. In this passage, the tone is a little dismal as the narrator discusses what is in Cecilia's diary. He describes it as "a hieroglyphics of unreadable despair." In other words, there was a deeper meaning to the words on the page. Underneath it all, Cecilia was clinically depressed, but her family could not break down the "hieroglyphics." Ironically, they describe the pages as illuminated. How could the pages of a suicidal girl's diary be bright and decorated? The author could be referring to the words as clarifying why she killed herself. However, the original reading of the word illuminated makes Cecilia's death seem bright.