girl. "At the age of sixteen or seventeen she perceived herself as having "no character to be especially proud of: impressionable, vacillating, sensitive, uncontrolled, often loafing and lazy" (Lane 57). However, she was determined to change herself into a disciplined, controlled person. Charlotte, an extremely intelligent child, was not able to consistently attend school until the age of thirteen. Living in poverty for most of her life, Charlotte was only able to attend school after the death of a great-aunt who left her an inheritance. Although her teachers were impressed with her aptitude, they soon became frustrated with her resistance to routines that restricted her imagination (59). Charlotte longed to be different. She was driven to defy conditional notions of what young girls "should be." Dr. Studley, a teacher who instructed Charlotte in hygiene, became particularly
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