A commonplace theme, that of a small town girl/boy going to the big city and being overwhelmed, perhaps even driven to hating their family for raising them in such an ignorant and blissfully unaware place. Thea Kronborg embodies an altered version of this theme in Part Two of The Song of the Lark (by Willa Cather) that is ironically enough, called The Song Of The Lark. However, Thea is not taken in as soon as she sets foot in Chicago, looking up in awe, in the same way that countless other characters in cliché scenes, at the huge buildings and colourful lights. She only becomes frustrated with her childhood once she is all settled in, and begins taking piano lessons from a local. "There were times when she came home from her lesson and lay upon her bed hating Wunsch and her family, hating a world that had let her grow up so ignorant; when she wished that she could die then and there, and be born over again to begin anew." (153)
Thea seems to remain in her own world, focusing intently on her music, paying almost no attention to the city around her,to the extent it seemed like she didn't care for it. "By the first of February Thea had been in Chicago almost four months, and she did not know much more about the city than if she had never quitted Moonstone. She was, as Harsanyi said, incurious." (169) Of course, that doesn't last long. There's always something for everyone in big cities like Chicago, and Thea discovers what she's been missing out on. She scolds herself severely for not agreeing to go anywhere or see anything, for remaining secluded in her own abode.
Once Thea manages to get herself out there and experience Chicago, it finally engulfs her. Not in the usual, awe-inspiring way, but in a depressing way that drowns and strangles her. She suddenly becomes aware of the harsh, fast-moving crowd that is Chicago; and enters a period of self-reflection. After a while, she decides that the huge crowds of people were there to take something from her, and there was no way she was going to let that happen. Of course, this is a classic case of character development, but you can't have a novel similar to an autobiography without some character development. Especially one with this much detail.
