>>3692
It was a reasonable attempt - I can see the lines or influence now that you have pointed them out, and they have similar amounts of tension as what I saw in your writing, but I think it might have been well served by adding a little detail to Sonja and her mother's fight, if you could show both parties frustrated and influenced by outside factors. With Sonja, that would be quite easy - she was, and the influences of and around the principal are easily visible, outside of the society climbing elements.

Her mother would require more indirect displays - odd comments that aren't explained, if you had fleshed out the arugment, such as, "Don't you know how much it hurts me when you do something like this?" or, "Why the hell did you do that to me?" - self-centered but unexplained elements, I think, would carry over her being under outside influence more effectively.

Personally, I think the story is a little stronger and a little more tightly composed for leaving out those details, because you set up both Betty having a measure of social influence (though that would have been strengthened if you had managed an earlier demonstration that she got away with things other people couldn't) and the authorities having issues with how Sonja and Meris were "carrying on" (with the teacher turning away from them, if nothing else).

In short, this is ultimately reasonable for the time, but horribly untoward today. If that isn't a message of progress and hope to you, then I don't know why you would look for one here.

Since you mention them, I want to ask, was Betty being groomed for a position in the higher echelons of the Anvil Club, or was she being groomed for a position of honor for the Anvil Club (so to speak)? Should I be less delicate about who eats the meat?