Optimism and the Heroine

“It is easy to see the beginnings of things, and harder to see the ends. I can remember now, with a clarity that makes the nerves in the back of my neck constrict, when New York began for me, but I cannot lay my finger upon the moment it ended, can never cut through the ambiguities and second starts and broken resolves to the exact place on the page where the heroine is no longer as optimistic as she once was.”

–Joan Didion (of course)

And, may I ask, when does y’all’s optimism begin to fade?

(My thoughts to follow…)