Hello Stranger: A Novel

“[H]e might have been right that day. I might be headed for a pauper’s grave. But I would be under the dirt in that grave before I’d ever admit it.”

Sadie maintains an unwavering will and perseverance in the face of harsh reality and refuses to allow outside factors to determine her value or shatter her spirit. The statement reveals her financial difficulties and future uncertainty, reflecting her recognition of her challenging circumstances. Despite this, her defiance demonstrates her strength and pride. She emphasizes perseverance in the face of difficulty by refusing to let others perceive her as defeated.

“It’s a disorienting thing to know there’s something wrong with you. It made everything about my life seem different. Worse. False. Like I’d been misunderstanding everything all along.”

Sadie expresses her emotional turmoil after the diagnosis of her face blindness and her sense of confusion and destabilization, as her condition makes her question her understanding of the world. The juxtaposition of "worse" and "false" highlights that her perception of herself and her life has shifted toward negativity and self-doubt. Sadie reveals her deep fear that her reality has been distorted, not just by her condition but also by her mind. This passage symbolizes identity and perception as Sadie struggles to reconcile who she is with the changes she faces due to her medical condition.