“If I had even the slightest grasp upon my own faculties, I would not make essays, I would make decisions.”

“How good it would be to make my own decisions; if only I knew how to.”

“I was afraid to let other make any decisions, because I had no confidence they would be concerned for me.”

“I had reclusive tendencies for a reason, I couldn’t be trusted to live in the world and make decisions on my own.”

“I would not have put it this way in those days, but because I was born a woman, I could never become an adult. I would always be a minor, my decisions made for me. I would always be a unit in a vast beehive. I might have a decent life, but I would be dependent—always—on someone treating me well. I knew that another kind of life was possible. I had read about it, and now I could see it, smell it in the air around me: the kind of life I had always wanted, with a real education, a real job, a real marriage. I wanted to make my own decisions. I wanted to become a person, an individual, with a life of my own.”

“That would make a fantastic college entrance essay. ‘I Killed My Boyfriend and Still Managed to Maintain a 4.2 GPA and the Lead in the Spring Musical.”