Josies life was anything but easy and that gave her the drive to make her life better. Cokie even said, “‘call this place ‘The Big Easy,’ shoot, ain’t nothin’ easy about it’”(Sepetys 328). Everyone's life in ‘The Big Easy’ was hard, and it did not let up on them. Josie grew up only knowing the French Quarter along its corruption. She did not believe that she could become anything better than ‘The Prostitute's Daughter,’ until Forrest Hearne mistook her for a young woman who attended college. This soon leads to the journey of applying to Smith. Josie says, “Why couldn’t I go to Smith? I made nearly all A’s in high school”(Sepetys 54). Soon after, Josie was rejected from Smith and she was utterly crushed. Josie then had to make decisions to rise above the circumstances, the biggest decisions she made was to change her name and to attend college at Northampton. A quote from the novel that best represents this is, “I’m going to finish school...I’m coming for you, Josie Coquard”(Sepetys 345). The fact that Josie has changed her name and is leaving the French Quarter behind, to go to college proves that she has risen above her
Josies life was anything but easy and that gave her the drive to make her life better. Cokie even said, “‘call this place ‘The Big Easy,’ shoot, ain’t nothin’ easy about it’”(Sepetys 328). Everyone's life in ‘The Big Easy’ was hard, and it did not let up on them. Josie grew up only knowing the French Quarter along its corruption. She did not believe that she could become anything better than ‘The Prostitute's Daughter,’ until Forrest Hearne mistook her for a young woman who attended college. This soon leads to the journey of applying to Smith. Josie says, “Why couldn’t I go to Smith? I made nearly all A’s in high school”(Sepetys 54). Soon after, Josie was rejected from Smith and she was utterly crushed. Josie then had to make decisions to rise above the circumstances, the biggest decisions she made was to change her name and to attend college at Northampton. A quote from the novel that best represents this is, “I’m going to finish school...I’m coming for you, Josie Coquard”(Sepetys 345). The fact that Josie has changed her name and is leaving the French Quarter behind, to go to college proves that she has risen above her