She's Not Undone by Izzy
Izzy's entry into Varsity Tutor's October 2025 scholarship contest
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She's Not Undone by Izzy - October 2025 Scholarship Essay
Dolores Price is a much more unique name than Isabella Young, yet when I think of the two, I point out more similarities than differences.
Not only has Dolores Price of Wally Lambs' "She's Come Undone" become my favorite book character- but she’s left an impact on me that no one has before. Fictional or non. Growing up in a dysfunctional family isn’t ideal, nor very popular. It's extremely isolated and makes you feel alienated from everyone you meet. Like Dolores, I used to cope with non-addicting substances like food when stressed. Not only did I feel alienated, but I also believed I looked like one. I was the “big” kid, growing up in clothes sizes that were labeled Large and Extra-Large. My parents ignored that about me too. In Dolores’ younger years of her life, she didn’t allow herself direction in life because it wasn’t a priority. She coped with sugary snacks every kid dreamt of having for dinner- and did so because her parents didn’t pay any attention. My dad left at the beginning of my freshman year of high school, and it only took what a child needs the most. Dolores and I lacked structure. Pre-pubescent young women on and off the pages of a book who wildly danced along the lines of premature maturation. Dolores’ mother died when she was fourteen. Reading how she handled herself afterward made me realize how fortunate I was just to have both of my parents living. No matter the mental state each parent was in, and if they were there physically. Amid a lost line of defense, we self-destructed and picked up our own pieces.
I understand that nothing lasts forever. Dolores would understand too, and she did in the end. We as humans cannot stay stuck for such a long period of time. We change and grow even when it does not feel like it. When life feels so unbearably heavy, like a rock binding us to the earth, we grow with the grass around us. Dolores meets people that compliment her instead of pointing out her every flaw. I am in my freshman year of college and surrounded by people who would hate to leave me and see me leave them. Dolores taught me that when family lacks acceptance, you can seek out those who are always enough.
That we all can shape our own lives and those who can leave an impact on them, and finally that we get out of what we put into our lives.