Juliet Takes a Breath

“‘Why lie? I don’t have a boyfriend. And I think I’m a lesbian,’ I said. ‘My words felt like they were being sucked out of me’” (25). This is the moment where Juliet comes out about her sexual orientation to her family. How is the way she came out effective or ineffective? Is there a better way that Juliet could have come out to her family? Would it have made her family’s reaction different?

“Panic always started in my lungs first and then spread to nervous fingers, knuckles that had to be cracked, and a heartbeat that wouldn’t slow” (52). How does Juliet’s anxiety influence her life? How does she deal with her anxiety and why is it important to the novel’s larger themes?

“My parents raised me to believe that I should be proud to live in the land of the free. But what the heck did any of that mean if it came at the cost of other people’s countries and lives?” (139). Juliet realizes how naïve she is about the history of the US in the novel. How has Juliet’s understanding of the US changed throughout the novel? Why is it important that she reads about the history of the US during her internship?