simmons, the character, to represent? i used her, first of all, as a -- it was really i took this from sister carrie which begins with carrie meeblor, the most meek name he could, going to chicago, chicago the great met top list. this is the first american novel of a great metropolis. and that was my original idea using a girl from sparta, north carolina, which exists, 900 folks, only town in allegheny county up in the blue ridge. a girl raised by a very strict mother, evangelical christian, you've probably heard of evangelical christians and she's very strict and domineering. her father is a laid off factory worker, last in the tom mccann shoe factory, machine. although there's a fast set in sparta, north carolina, at the high school, there is and being fast in sparta in additional things, includes chewing tobacco. also a lot of west virginia, a lot of chewing tobacco. anyway, but she's not a part of any of that. so she in her mind is going to want to live-- she wants to live a life of the mind at this great university which i call dupont. she represents innocence. i wanted to make her a plausible example of somebody who k