Does one change as quickly and as drastically at the age of 34 as Rachel does in A Jest of God? Although the likelihood of such a transfiguration happening at that age seemed impossible to me, Margaret Laurence may have shown me otherwise. How believable yet unbelievable this character is all at once. How one can relate to those times where we feel the world is against us, where our self-esteem is at its lowest, where everything is expected to turn out for the worse. Take these traits, fuse them into a near-middle aged and allow them to exude from her character at all times: we have Rachel Cameron. I can only speak for myself I suppose but I was completely depressed, agitated, frustrated with the mannerisms of this character. There were times when I wanted to melt into the pages and slap that girl across the face until she stood up for herself.
Back to my original question, can one really "grow-up" so quickly all at once? Well, I believe Margret Laurence accounts for this abnormality whether she means to or not. Throughout the book we are exposed to the thoughts of Rachel. We know that she hates the way she speaks to her mother, always giving in to her guilt trips. We know she hates the way she cowers at the sight of her boss, at the sight of Calla. She exposes all of her faults with her own mind, she sees them all. Because of this Rachel needs to come to less realizations; instead of a matter of learning and discovering, it is a matter of courage and motivation.
I believe that had Laurence not fabricated the story in such a way that Rachel believes she is pregnant for quite some time it would have been difficult to justify the catalysts of Rachel's demeanor change. Throughout her "believed to be" pregnancy, Rachel is forced to realize that she will no longer be able to protect everyone. There is no way for her to protect her mother if indeed she does have a child. There is no way people will believe she is the same Rachel Cameron. This 'baby' is reason to change, a reason to not care about one's appearance. Without this I believe Rachel would have continued to hide herself and her true feelings from the world without end.
---Aaron Abel
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Which is why at the end she learns to look at life as one cosmic joke. And--adding a further level of irony--this rough awakening prompts her not to become an entirely different person but to embrace who she is. One may ask, why does she still need to leave, then? I'd argue that elsewhere her strangeness will make sense. In her mother's town this new self-irony would only be perceived as madness. And--she will be close to her sister's family, the only family she'll ever have.
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