Her name was Loretta; she was pleased with that name too, though Loretta Botsford pleased her less. Her last name dragged down on her, it had no melody...Her face was rather full, and there was a slight mischievous puffiness about her cheeks that made her look younger than she was-she was sixteen-and her eyes were blue, a mindless, bland blue, not very sharp. Her lips were painted a deep scarlet, exactly the style of the day. Her eyebrows were plucked in exactly the style of the day...She wore a navy-blue dress pulled in tight at the waist. Her waist was surprisingly narrow, her shoulders a little broad, almost masculine; she was a strong girl. Upon her competent shoulders sat this fluttery, dreamy head, blond hair puffed out and falling down in coquettish curls past her ears, past her collar, down onto her back, so that when she ran along the sidewalk it blew out behind her and men stopped to stare at her; never did she bother to glance back at these men-they were like men in movies who do not appear in the foreground but only focus interest, show which way interest should be directed. She was in love with the thought of this. (15-16)
As requested, this passage gives a description of the sixteen-year-old Loretta from the previous post on Them from last week. This should give a clear image as to who Loretta was when a murder took place right beside her in bed and also when she got raped.
As the story unfolds, Loretta gives birth to three children: Jules, Maureen, and Betty. Jules is her firstborn son who is very energetic, and brings new life around the house. The mystery behind Jules is that Loretta is not sure whether he is Bernie's (her first love) or Howard's (her husband) son. The story seems to take a turn from focusing on Loretta to focusing more on Jules.
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