Springboarding off Anastasia’s discovery that adults experience complicated emotions too, Chapter 8 continues with the story Anastasia’s mother tells about her previous relationship with the lawyer. This shows that Anastasia has learned from sharing her emotions with her mom in regard to her grandmother, which means Anastasia has realized there are other emotions she doesn’t yet understand. In addition, the story highlights how emotions are complicated because they involve other people. In the case of Anastasia’s mother, the relationship failed because the participants realized they did not feel equally emotional about each other. Taken beside Anastasia’s realization that she feels many strong emotions about her grandmother, these two relationships symbolize how there is not one way to deal with complex emotions or that all complex emotions are the same. The inclusion of Anastasia’s father’s many love affairs is a humorous nod to the stereotypical love lives of poets. It is also an example of the outdated stereotype that men have many partners they do not get attached to while women have fewer partners who are all meaningful.

Anastasia’s decision to become “mercurial” represents an important step in her character development—namely, understanding herself and defining the aspects of her personality. This furthers the theme of The Difficulty of Forming an Identity. Anastasia again uses her green notebook to understand her internal changes, shown by how she marks being mercurial as an important event. However, in addition to using the green notebook, Anastasia also seeks outward confirmation of her emotions, which shows that her methods for understanding the world are evolving. The discussion with her mother in Chapter 9 shows Anastasia explaining herself to another person in a clear way that makes her point, revealing that Anastasia has become more comfortable with self-expression. Chapter 9 ends with Anastasia learning to use her mercurial nature to her advantage. Since her parents are more concerned with themselves and the baby in this chapter, Anastasia asserts her opinion by firmly stating that she has changed her mind. Doing so allows Anastasia to feel powerful and in-control as the events around her become increasingly difficult to handle.

The death of Anastasia’s grandmother in Chapter 10 brings the theme of Coping with Complex Emotions full circle. Prior to receiving the news, Anastasia felt cautiously justified in her discomfort with her grandmother because she had witnessed her mother also having complex emotions about her. However, with her grandmother’s death, Anastasia’s guilt can no longer be pushed aside. Without the opportunity to deal with her emotions regarding her grandmother, Anastasia is overcome with wishing she’d done better while her grandmother was alive. 

Guilt is replaced with grief here, which is fueled by memories of her grandmother, and how Anastasia never appreciated the happiness of those memories because she was too caught up in feeling uncomfortable. Anastasia also learns here that this was a choice on her part, and the fact she could have chosen happiness in memories makes the fact she didn’t even more difficult. Further, going through her grandmother’s things at the nursing home makes Anastasia see that forgetfulness did not make her grandmother unhappy. Rather, her grandmother kept the few things that triggered happy memories, which was plenty for her to live her days. Anastasia’s observation that she has many more belongings than her grandmother offers additional context to The Pressure to Act in the Face of Uncertainty. With few memories and an active life, Anastasia builds her sense of self with the things around her. By contrast, her grandmother knew who she was (if only a version of who she was in the past) and did not need so many things because she could remember what was important to her.

The final chapter shows Anastasia both completing her character arc and becoming the person she will be in the next installment of the series. Deciding to like Mrs. Westvessel is directly in contrast with how Anastasia began the book, highlighting how her emotions have changed. The fact she does so after Mrs. Westvessel calls to offer sympathies about her grandmother makes Anastasia realize that her first impressions are not always correct and that making a decision does not mean she can’t change her mind. Ironically, Anastasia learns the truth of being mercurial here, even though she claimed she was mercurial several chapters ago. Anastasia also changes her mind about the baby. This is partly because she has learned she can change her mind but also because the baby feels like an addition to the family in the wake of losing her grandmother. 

Seeing the baby also helps Anastasia decide to like him because she realizes he’s a real person, not just something that will change life as she knows it. Her decision to name the baby Sam after her grandfather shows Anastasia has matured and also that she wants to keep her grandmother’s memory alive. Taking the time to slow down and appreciate both the baby and her memories also highlights that feeling the pressure to act in the face of uncertainty is a choice. Up until now, the baby has felt like a headlong rush to when Anastasia’s life would change. Now, faced with the baby, Anastasia realizes she created this reality because she was scared of how things would change. She still does not know how much things might change, but she is willing to deal with those changes, which lets her feel less pressured by the baby’s entrance into her life.