Second First Impressions

In Second First Impressions, true personal growth requires embracing risk and stepping outside of self-imposed limitations. Author Sally Thorne contrasts Ruthie Midona’s rigid, safety-oriented life with Teddy Prescott’s chaotic impulsiveness to illustrate that a life defined by comfort is ultimately one of stagnation. Ruthie’s journey from a self-made prison to an unknown future suggests that fulfillment is only possible when one has the courage to face uncertainty.

Initially, Ruthie exists in a state of arrested development, confined by anxieties that she mistakes for stability. Her life at Providence Retirement Villa is governed by meticulous routines and a deep-seated fear of the outside world. This fear is so potent that the simple task of running errands causes her pulse to race. She has built a fortress of familiarity, retreating into her online forum and her annual rewatch of the television show Heaven Sent. This routine provides comfort but also reinforces her isolation and her perception of herself as an “very old soul (24 going on 124)” (3). While she yearns for connection, she is too paralyzed by fear to seek it, trapping herself in a cycle of loneliness and regret that demonstrates how safety can become its own kind of cage.

The arrivals of