Although she didn’t consciously decide to do so, Ellen painted a positive picture of her life when she spoke to relatives and her parents’ friends. She didn’t want them to worry about her or repeat to her parents anything that might cause them concern. The negative view of her life was constructed for her old friends from high school—women her age who were married and bored and slightly envious of her life of independence and intellectual stimulation. She wanted, instinctively, to forestall rather than incite their envy.
Understandable
