Hum If You Don't Know the Words

The protagonist and one of the two narrators of the story, Robin Conrad is a foil for Beauty. Nine years old when the story begins, she lives in a mining town in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, until her parents are killed. When she’s young, she overhears her mother say that Robin is so unlike her that she wonders if she’s the wrong child. After hearing this, Robin invents a twin sister, Cat. Cat takes on the traits that Robin believes her mom doesn’t want her to embody, like sensitivity and fear. By using Cat as a scapegoat, Robin feels more lovable.

When her parents are killed, Robin’s transformation begins. She tries to hold in her emotions and behave like an adult to ensure that she isn’t taken from Edith, but her emotions explode out of her anyway, and with the help of adults in her life she learns that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness. When Beauty comes to take care of her, she puts up walls at first but eventually begins to trust her. After Robin’s life of pretending, Beauty is the first person who is honest with her about society’s inherent contradictions.