It sounds like letting this time slip away really has been the most painful thing she's ever let happen. Boland says she has never had to use speech so dark.

The words she uses show the strong regret she feels not having paid enough attention to her young daughter.

I think what Boland is writing about here is that she's not literally gone. But, she no longer that child that use to be so eager to head out on Sunday with her. She follows this with, "Grown." Her daughter has grown up now. Moved on.

We learn that Sasha doesn't steal things to use them.

Again, she does not want to open up. Sasha is disconnected from the world and herself. She steals meaningful items from other people to try and fill her life with meaning.

We don't know exactly how her father plays into her feelings, but i think its safe to assume there's some connection there.

"I believe in you" is such a powerful phrase. Whomever wrote that to Alex had a serious connection with him. This idea goes back to the contrasting characters. It also ties back into Sasha stealing items with meaning. It also ties back with the idea that Sasha is filling some void with the stolen items.

Sasha's father is only mentioned for a brief sentence but maybe her father leaving her at a young age caused her to feel the way she does.

Their power, I think the author is talking about their meaning/significance

So she was turned on after stealing the wallet. Then when she gave it back the mood was killed. Then, Alex looks at all of her stolen stuff and she's turned on by it again.

What meaning could these things have? Are they symbolic?

I think the author is trying to say that there's a part of Sasha that wants to see a hidden, old, her. Or maybe there is a hidden problem inside her.

She didn't turn to look though. This totally plays back into the idea that Sasha can't connect with anyone, herself included.

This scene provides good contrast between the characters. Alex is a very caring person. He is actively trying to get this woman wallet back, he cares about her.

Sasha does not seem to care much, almost lacks the ability, to care about other people.

Something bad happened with Sasha and her father? She says she doesn't remember him 'for their protection'.

Sasha has a really hard time opening up, connecting, and showing her true self. She lies about her age on her dating profile, she doesn't have the ability to care the people she steals from, she's totally lost connection with everything she used to care about, and now she doesn't show her feelings to her therapist

We learned that she likes to steal objects with meaning. So what meaning does the screwdriver appear to have?

Stealing the wallet was arousing for her, sexually.

What causes her to want to do this???? This is a really odd way to show your individuality.

It turned out not to be that meaningful of an object.

Why is this a painful experience for her?

We learn she's lost touch with the things that used to mean a lot to her. Goals, work, friends, ect. She's pretty much lost touch with the world.

What caused this?

Her kleptomania is how she copes.

She doesn't seem to feel bad about how it makes other people feel when she steals their belongings.

She dates a lot of people apparently.

We see that Sasha does not steal from stores bc those items are "inert". By inert the author means devoid of meaning. Items in a store have no value to another person. But, personal belongings do have meaning. This is why Sasha steals from people. Why does she only steal items with meaning? To fill a void of her own?

He thinks so objectively. While it may not be officially recognized as a church, these people consider it to be THEIR church. She lives there and just told him it was a church... This is another example of how Bill is out of touch with non factual reality.

The .PDF on blackboard includes a cover picture for "Meet The President". We can learn a great deal about how the local and the elites are portrayed in this story form the cover.

First, you may notice the girl in the back. This is Aggie. In the story there is a scene where Aggie and Bill are walking to her sisters 'laying out'. Aggie is dressed in this Puritan, 1600's, style attire. Not very high end; her people, the locals, obviously do not have a lot of money. But I think the most important thing to notice is, she is human.

Bill on the other hand is shown as an abstract/intangible person. No physical features other than his outline. He's walking on water. He's not being portrayed as human, or maybe not as human as Aggie.

Now we know that Aggie's people get killed by the drones when they do not behave the way they are supposed to.

What were they inspecting?

"I do not hope to turn again". Was this group of people once part of Bill's tech/VR society, maybe they defected?

At his school they tell the kids to travel. Maybe this ties back into the beginning half of the story where the narrator tells us that Bill liked to discuss with members of other chapters where it was best to augment?

Bill's society is totally lost. Their idea of human capital has nothing to do with relations to other people. We've seen how Bill is incapable of interacting with other people. He is totally unable to think about or feel emotion towards others.

An encampment is defined as a temporary saying place, sometimes for troops. I think the encampment is where Bill and his people are stationed. They are doing something with the people of the island and we know this because he says they are feared.

Melinda's response shows us that the headset he is wearing is something that the superiors wear and that they are in a way viewed as inferior to Bill by society.

Actually crazy though.