Book Report on the novella, "Tilly"
...e would just lash out at him again. Tilly is kept secret even from Dan until the end of the story. Dan became interested in who Tilly was, and what secrets her story withheld, after seeing what affect Tilly’s headstone had on his wife, Kathy. Dan visited a cemetery groundskeeper, an undertaker and Anita Mendoza to learn about Tilly. Anita Mendoza aborted Kathy’s baby. Mrs. Mendoza named Tilly so, simply because she looked the part. Anita mourned for Tilly every April liked clockwork. Anita felt that, “If not me, who will morn for Tilly? Who will care to remember her?” Anita held Tilly’s body in her arms and her life gradually slipped away, for she was alive after her very own abortion. Anita was reunited with Kathy for the first time since the abortion, in a cemetery. After a small funeral Dan and Kathy were attending. Kathy noticed a woman mourning over a tiny head stone reading, “Tilly, 9 years ago.” Kathy dared to move toward the woman, but she retreated from sight quickly. Dan, Kathy’s wife, led Kathy our of the cemetery. That night, Kathy was found crying in her home’s office by Dan. Dan finally connects the clues and concludes Kathy is depressed because of a matter somehow involving children. When Kathy finally falls asleep she dreams of Tilly, her aborted daughter. Tilly and Kathy share a special moment in a special place, heaven. Tilly does all she can to relieve he mother of her guilt and sorrow with promises to be together forever some day. When Dan awakes Kathy from her bittersweet moment Kathy meets Anita once again in the downstairs of her home. In reaction to the incident that took place in the cemetery, Kathy cried and grieved over the memory of the child she never bore. Dan, instead of grieving over the situation, sought answers. Dan wanted to know the story behind Tilly. Neither Kathy nor Dan could let go of the events f that day without resolution. Both people wanted peace, and by the end of the day following the funeral, they experienced peace. Kathy is undoubtedly a sensitive and compassionate character. She shows her sensitivity y letting her secrets affect her so deeply to the point it haunts and keeps her up ;ate nights and enable her to shut her family out of her life. She shows her compassion when she attends the funeral of a person she hardly knew. Kathy rationalizes her actions by remarking, “someone has to care, even if it’s a stranger.” Anita lives by the same rules, for when she held a funer...