The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty presents Wanda Fay on the surface as selfish, manipulative, insecure, inconsiderate, superficial, spoiled, and fickle, as well as recklessly and carelessly cruel. In contrast, it wasn't hard for me to see Fay as a victim of her family and upbringing, of Mount Salus's elite class, and of her personal aspirations. Throughout the novel, even though I despised Fay and her weaknesses, I felt sorry for her. Her apprehension at discovering that her family was downstairs when she finally decided to leave the bedroom to view the body of her husband, the judge, for the last time showed me that she had probably hoped to escape her family by marrying the judge, only to find that she was forced to face them when the judge died and no longer "belonged" to her. The Optimist's Daughter is a deliberate metaphor for society. Eudora Welty was slightly prescient, as she never focuses on political issues, but rather crass materialism/unlimited energy vs. civilized values/privilege and class. Fay is a lively troublemaker and is guilty of bringing a lot of tension into the story. . Despite the fact that her family and her own element support her through her loss, it is also very clear that they do not seem to be particularly fond of her, nor is she particularly fond of them. After the funeral, Fay plans to return home to Madrid, Texas, and her mother first responds by asking how long she plans to stay and then her sister says, “I haven't heard your excuses for going yet. Do you have one?" (97). Taken aback by this comment, Fay laments that she didn't bring DeWitt with her. He is the only member of the family who speaks Fay's language, and despite the fat her family doesn't holds... middle of paper... pedantic." However, the characters' differences are ultimately resolved and come to a head when the narrator writes: “Memory is lived not in the initial possession but in hands freed, forgiven and liberated, and in the heart that can empty but fill again, patterns restored by dreams ” (179). This is stated at the end of the novel as Laurel heads out of the city to the airport making peace with the past, particularly Fay, as she heads towards a clean future. Works Cited Moss, Howard, “Eudora Welty's New Novel about Death and Class,” in New York Times Book Review, May 21, 1972. Welty, Eudora. The optimist's daughter. New York: Random House, 1972. Print.