“I tried to read this morning, but I stopped in the quest for the Golden Fleece, distracted again by Medea, who can only think of Jason, her face red, her heart aflame, engulfed by sweet pain. The goddess struck her with love, and she had no choices. I could not concentrate. My stomach was its own animal, and thoughts of Manny kept surfacing like swimmers in my brain; I had my own tender pain.” (Ward, 109)

Ward uses this passage to draw similarities between Esch and Medea through both of these characters strong emotions for a significant other in their lives. In the case of Esch, Manny is the one boy who she would do anything for; however, he does not return these feelings for her. As seen in this novel, Esch can have almost any boy that she knows, and many of them she has slept with, but when Manny starts showing an interest in her, she gives up all the other boys for just him. This sacrifice is similar to Medea’s love for Jason, and her willingness to do anything for him, including killing her own family, her brother. Furthermore, Esch feels stuck in love; Manny doesn’t return her feelings, and she feels as if she can tell no one of her pregnancy. Similarly, Medea is also so much in love with Jason that she can do nothing but help him; she, therefore, has no choices, like Esch, because “the goddess struck her with love”.

This painting, titled Jason and Medea in the Temple of Jupiter, was painted by artist Jean François de Troy in 1714. A French artist, Jean François de Troy was asked to create sketches for tapestries of the Greek myth of Medea and Jason for a series of cartoons. However, he then painted them in 1742 and 1743 and were displayed in 1748. This painting in the series depicts the return of Medea and Jason in a temple that they went to to pray and thank the gods for helping them on their journey.

I think that by the end of the novel, Esch had become a strong woman who was capable ad ready to raise a child as a teenage single mother. Whereas towards the beginning of the novel, Esch was acting as the mother of the household and the “mom” who took care of everyone, in preparing for hurricane Katrina, she acted as a strong individual. Losing her home and deciding to keep her baby also make me think that throughout all the ordeals Esch went through, she came out the other end a stronger woman than she was when she began.