This thesis is a collection of seven personal essays written by the author and headed by a critical introduction. The introduction presents an explication both of the title of the thesis and of the common theme uniting the various essays, that of the writer's attempt to understand and so empathize with the people about whom she writes, and also her desire to understand herself through writing.
This thesis includes the following titles: "The Bat and Spider," "To Watch the Trees Grow," "Namesake," "Unbraided," "Five Ways of Looking at a Cave," "The Snow Cave," and "The Window."