"Your're Ugly, Too" Lorrie Moore

Zoe's many eccentricities cause people think she is strange, such as her students and men she dates. She doesn't seem to care what people think about her when she is doing these odd things, but then she often focuses on her lonelyness. I found it interesting that the only two men that she ever pays attention to were her postman and taxi driver. She tips them and talks to them in a friendly manner. I wonder if it is because she knows that these are just formal relationships and there isn't a chance that they will get together in her mind. I think that is a possiblity because she seems to get nervous when she is with possible candidates for a mate. For example, when she meets Earl, and they are chatting for the first time on the balcony, she imagines their whole life together, which ends in a custody battle for the kids. She makes up things about herself, which is also odd. She is obviously a cinic of love, which is what I think prevents her from falling in love. Her negativity is a great hinderance in her relationships with people in general.