Bitter in the Mouth

Linda craves words, and although the same incomings are produced if she says the word herself, there is always a difference when someone else says it, like “the difference between being served a good meal and having to cook one” one oneself (102). College is challenging for her because new words and incomings are always startling: “In my classes, I often had the shakes and exhibited what appeared to be a mild form of Tourette’s,” leading to rumors that she takes speed and never sleeps (102-3).

Baby Harper told Linda that her mother was never young, that she “was born a thirty-five-year-old woman and remained that age until she turned thirty-six, and then she got older like the rest of us” (103). From 7 to 11, Linda loved DeAnne “because that was what I thought was natural” (104). At 11, however, DeAnne hires Bobby, whom she lusts after, and thus finds reasons to ignore the evidence after he rapes Linda. Linda spends much of her youth trying to figure out why Thomas married DeAnne. Baby Harper tries to explain, in part through his photographs, but Linda struggles still to understand, seeing only an awkward, loveless match.