"You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy.
       
          Dear God,
I am fourteen years old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me."


This quote is at the very beginning of the book and therefore sets the tone of the whole book. When she says, "You better not never tell nobody but God." she makes the reader believe it is some big secret and she doesn't want anyone to know about what she has to say. It shows she is not willing to open up to people and let them know about her life. She continues to say, "It'd kill your mammy." It is important that she doesn't say that she herself would kill your mammy, but she instead implies that you will feel guilty if you tell someone. This gives the reader the idea that she doesn't want anyone to know, but if you do tell someone about it, she is not actually going to do anything about it. She clearly feels strongly about it, but she is not going to stand up for herself if someone wrongs her. This is important to her character throughout the rest of the book. When she says, "I am I have always been a good girl." she is suggesting the fact that she is not all good but she tries her best not to do something wrong. The fact that she crossed out, "I am" and changed it to, "I have" shows her thinking less of herself. It shows a lack of confidence in herself. This continues throughout the book and is the main characteristic that seems to define her. Then she asks God for a sign so she can know what is happening to her. She shows that she believes that what is happening to her is not completely right yet she is not really fighting it. We find out later that she has been abused her whole life by people close to her. She makes it clear that she doesn't put up much of a fight and just rolls with the punches. She does understand that she is being treated poorly, but she is not standing up for herself. The only time she ever addresses the abuse she has faced her whole life is in her letters to God. It is also important that she is only telling this to God. This shows how scared she is because she is only willing to tell the one person she knows is not going to judge her or tell anyone. It shows how scared she is of other people. She thinks down on herself but doesn't realize that that is not normal. She just thinks that is her place in life to be raped and abused. She has such a casual approach to her life even though she has gone through some pretty terrible things.