In a nutshell, the hardships of her existence as somebody bearing a physical abnormality have transformed Sophie from an innocent child to a woman who has been toughened by life's hardships. After years of living like a "deviant" who has known incredible loneliness, she feels, frankly, that it would have been kinder for her to have been killed than to live the life that she has been living.
As a child, Sophie had been "normal" in spite of her constant need to hide her six toes. She was just a regular innocent and mischievous child, who probably wasn't yet aware of everything that being a Deviant would come to mean in her life.
By chapter 15, however, Sophie is a drastically changed woman. She is intent on survival, and will do whatever it takes. She is markedly more aggressive than she was as a child, and she now has full awareness of everything that her Deviant status entails. She has become as tough as nails thanks to her circumstances, and does not hesitate to take other people's...
(The entire section contains 5 answers and 1310 words.)
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