The Teacher (part 2)

After that day, Appleby has been born again. She now faces life not with her usual self, usual routines, but takes it like a fresh start. Knowing that she isn't alone, she needs a change. The most ritualistic way of changing has got to be something meaningful rather than the formality of it. Therefore, she has put away all the ceramic cups and dishes that have been accumulated over the years. Boxing them, she felt revived and relived.

For the next few weeks, she has also changed her voyeurism too, just to see if there's any clues to seek out the author of that message. Now, instead of merely seeing them as a symbol, she is starting to expand it to seeing their faces, emotions, and gestures. Putting them together like a complete image.

Glancing, sometimes studying these young mares waving around their pony tails, the careless ways they chew gum, and their prematurity, Appleby takes all that in, and the more she sees, the more she feels she's at one with them. They remind her of her own insecurities and light-heartedness that she once had. But most importantly, she's seeking for a glance that corresponds.

Nothing turned up during the semester, but while she was grading the finals, she noticed the mark of the heart exclamation at the end of her essay on Cyrano De Bergerac. The question was:

Is Roxane worthy of the love that Cyrano feels for her, or is she simply a romantic ideal of womanhood to him?

The answer:

Throughout the story, Roxane has shown great courage and competence during the battle, and is supposed to be beautiful and smart, she also made men around her fell for her. However, Cyrano's feeling is merely a reflection of his own self-realization and obsessiveness rather than honest observance of Roxane. At the same time, the author has not given enough information of what Roxane is, lacking of detailed description, it is obvious that this story is nothing more than the author's own fantasized of womanhood. Or simply, he's never understood any women