This reading, by far, trumps Agostino in the genre of Oedipus complexes in the coming-of-age era. The relationship between Cecile and her father is much like the dynamic between Agostino and his mother in the sense that it felt like children raising children. The father did not care for Cecile’s education and let her go about as she wished with the same occuring for Agostino. In fact, Cecile’s father’s comments on her physique were no way near normal in today’s standards as he describes himself wanting a “lovely, buxom, fair-haired daughter with china-blue eyes” (10). There was little responsibility taken by the parents as they continued to live a care-free life that included them as the desirable epicentre. In this novel, Cecile herself has a love interest who she ends up intertwining into her father’s affairs by posing as a competition figure. Cyril, the man in question, poses as the lover of Cecile’s dad’s mistress, Elsa, in order to make him jealous and break off the relationship he has with the “too mature” Anne. This plan of theirs obviously goes out of control (no pun intended) as Anne drives off a cliff, debatably taking her own life. A question we can ask ourselves is: Did this story have a happy ending? We understand that the plan worked and Anne is now out of their lives … forever. But at what expense? Furthermore, did Cyril deserve to have his emotions played with and is Cecile still worthy of him after the plan’s outcome? Tying this theme back to Agostino, he was able to at least gain a lesson out of his antics with little to no expense. Furthermore, the journey he went through was arguable alone. Agostino took in the actions and intentions of others and acted on them accordingly, whereas Cecile got roundhouse kicked in the face by reality all while sharing the trauma with her father, Elsa, and Cyril. And this was all because she did not want to study or do chores like a normal household citizen. This text was also refreshing in the sense that the main character was not the protagonist in my opinion. I felt Anne properly depicted a protagonist and although Cecile’s intentions were not ill, her actions could land herself a spot on the antagonists’ list. Anne simply fell in love with a man of her stature and class with whom he had a daughter she adored. With this adoration came a hope that she could see Cecile bloom into the woman Anne had wanted her to be. This text shows that a lack of empathy for others and irresponsibility in the grand scheme of life is not only detrimental to yourself but to others as well.