Peggy

Peggy is the ultimate protagonist of Fuller’s novel, for it is Peggy who must come to terms with her experience as Punzel, James’ treatment of her, and being pregnant with her father’s child. The novel opens with Peggy as a 17-year-old, struggling to readjust to civilized life after living in die Hütte for nine years. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear Peggy’s adjustment period is incredibly difficult for her. She suffers from panic attacks, claiming “there isn’t any air in [Ute’s] house” and misses the air of the outdoors (233). She also sifts through old photographs of James, implying she still has a troubled attachment to him after everything he has done. Perhaps most troublingly, for most of the novel Peggy does not play La Campanella on Ute’s piano, demonstrating her inability to synthesize her time as Punzel with her current...