Today I will radiate calm. Kindness and self-control will abound. Today I will buy local. Today I will be my best self, the person I’m capable of being. Today will be different.
-- Eleanor/ Narration (Prologue)

Importance: An extract from the prologue detailing Eleanor’s commitments for the day. The list is impersonal and could apply to anyone, not revealing anything specific about Eleanor’s life and personality: this foreshadows Eleanor’s core problem which is a failure to address the fact that her emotional problems stem from the specifics of the past. The list is comically idealistic leading the reader to expect Eleanor’s failure to live up to her ambitions.

My whole life, I’ve been liked. Okay, I’ll say it: I’ve been adored.
-- Eleanor/ Narration (The Trick)

Importance: Eleanor describes herself, but offers little evidence to the reader to support her claim. Although she asserts that she has always been adored, the boastfulness of...