a few days ago. The process makes Taylor nervous, but due to her bravery, she keeps going on. Taylor’s being brave can be seen from her thought.
By this point we had run out of small talk. I was over my initial nervousness, but without it I felt drained. Just sitting in the small, crowded
office, trying to look the right way and say the right thing, seemed to take a great deal of energy. I couldn’t imagine how we were all going to get
through this. 214
However, it is such a hard process though finally they can overcome it and Taylor gets the official document that Turtle belongs to her from that moment on.
c. Optimistic
Taylor’s being optimistic can be analyzed from her speech and thought. Taylor is an optimistic person even since she was in high school. When she
applies for part-time job in Pittman County Hospital, she is very optimistic that she will be accepted.
After two days passed with nothing more said about it, I stayed after class and told him that if he didn’t have his mind made up yet he’d just as well
let me do it, because I would do a right smart job. I had stayed out of trouble this long, I said, and didn’t intend to let my effort go to waste just
because I was soon going to graduate. And he said all right, he would tell Lynda, and that I should go up there Monday afternoon and she would tell
me what to do. 5-6
Taylor is optimistic that she will be accepted, and she is really accepted to work in hospital lab then. Her optimism is also shown through her belief that even bad
luck brings good things. She believes that everything brings such good things. She states her belief to Estevan.
“For me, even bad luck brings good things,” I told him finally. “I threw out a rocker arm on my car and I got Turtle. I drove over broken glass on
an off ramp and found Mattie.” I crossed my arms tightly over my stomach, trying to stop myself from gulping air. “Do you know, I spent the
first half of my life avoiding motherhood and tires, and now I’m counting them as blessings?” 137
Taylor said that at first she thinks motherhood and tires are bad things, but because she feels optimistic that even bad luck can bring good things, she then
realizes that being a mother and working with tires is blessings. Taylor’s optimism also comes from her mama’s speech. “Even a spotted
pig looks black at night. This is another thing Mama used to tell me quite often. It means that things always look different, and usually better, in the morning.”
141. She is always optimistic that whatever problems she encounters, if morning comes, everything will be better.
As Lou Ann was finishing her job interview and she told Taylor that the owner always called her ‘sweetheart’ while sometimes looking at her boobs
during the interview, Taylor tells Lou Ann that something better will come along her and she can face it 149. Taylor’s being optimistic is not only helpful in
purpose to encourage others, but it also helps her to pass her life when she finds such difficulties or problems. This case is specifically seen as she has miserable
time after having consultation with a social worker about Turtle’s trauma and the social worker tells her that if Turtle has no legal guardian, she becomes a ward of
the state. Before going to sleep, she thinks about the thing she has said to encourage Esperanza.
There is no point in treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, There now, hang on, you’ll get over it. Sadness is
more or less like a head cold-with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer. 173
Even though such situation makes her depressed, yet she is still optimistic that if she keeps being patient and doing her best, she can handle the problems.
To adopt Turtle legally, Taylor makes a plan to find Turtle’s relatives. Therefore, she can ask them to sign the legal document which declares her as
Turtle’s guardian. She goes to Oklahoma to find Turtle’s relatives and also drives Estevan and Esperanza to a safe house. While she is trying to tell Lou Ann about
what she will do, Lou Ann doubts her plan. Lou Ann feels hesitate that Taylor can find Turtle’s relatives, but Taylor keeps saying that they have to think positive and
she feels optimistic that she is going to find Turtle’s relatives. “Damn it, Lou Ann, you’ve been telling me till you were blue in the face
to do something, take action, think positive, blah, blah, blah. I’m trying to think positive here.”
“Sorry.” “What other choice have I got than to go? If I just sit here on my hands,
then they take her.” “I know. You’re right.”
“If her relatives want her back, then I’ll think of something. We’ll cut that fence when we come to it.”
“What if you can’t find them? Sorry.” “I’ll find them.” 183
Having realized that she cannot find Turtle’s relatives, she tries another plan. She seeks another way to adopt Turtle legally. She told herself that she cannot give up
as it is only a half way to get Turtle officially. But it also occurred to me to wonder why I had come this far. Generally
speaking, I am not a fool. I must have wanted something, and wanted it badly, to believe that hard in snipes.
“I can’t give up,” I said as I turned the car around. I smacked my palms on the steering wheel again and again. “I just can’t. I want to go to Lake o’
the Cherokees. Don’t even ask me why.” 203
From what Taylor says, she is optimistic when she makes a choice. Moreover, she is sure that she will not give up and no one can stop her if she wants something.
The group, which consists of Taylor, Turtle, Estevan and Esperanza, then reach Lake o’ the Cherokees. They admire the beauty of the lake and mountain.
Once more Taylor shows her optimism by thinking that she hopes she will find something better behind the next hill and she feels sure about that. “I still would
have to say it’s stretching the issue to call the Ozarks mountains, but they served. I felt secure again, with my hopes for something better tucked just out of sight
behind the next hill.” 206. Finally, as Taylor cannot find Turtle’s relatives, she makes a promise to
Turtle that she will not let Turtle stay away from her. Taylor said that she will try as hard as she can to keep staying with Turtle 211. That statement merely shows
Taylor’s being optimistic that she can adopt Turtle legally.
d. Sensitive
