Judy's Letters

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son and complies to Ed’s terms because of her lesser knowledge of her own rights.

Haddon describes Judy as a strong and independent woman for bringing up her socially challenged son with no experience and little to no assistance, but Judy could only stay strong and willing for so long before she cracked with the pressure. Judy wishes to still stay in contact with her son even though she can no longer handle the pressure and responsibility of taking care of a child that is mentally challenging, when Judy makes the decision to leave her son she goes through all the good memories that she shared with him over the years, like his train sets and how she remembers Christopher "play with it all day and refusing to go to bed at night because you were still playing with it." And going to parks where they could "fly kites or watch the planes coming". The love Judy has for Roger is new and refreshing for her, this makes her decision to start a new life a little easier knowing that there is someone who "listens to her" and is there for her when she needs. Although the decision to leave Christopher seems unreasonable, Judy expresses how guilty she feels for all the mistakes she ever made and how tough acting like a single parent can be on her. The readers feel sympathetic for her as she has to explain to her son all the reasons as to why she needed to get away through letters, due to her inability to tell him face to face. If it wasn’t for Christopher’s curious mind, the boy may have never found out the truth behind his mothers disappearance.