Vincent is the archetype of the sort that has haunted literature for millennia: that of an unknowable, doomed beauty. At the same time, she is also a representative of a feminist viewpoint on freedom and agency within a male-dominated system. Such archetypes are often viewed from a male perspective, in which the masculine lover attempts to pierce the veil that obscures the mysterious heart of his feminine beloved. What transgresses the traditional archetype in this telling, however, is that Vincent plays both roles of lover and beloved. She is a mystery to herself, and her self-pursuant love goes tragically unrequited. All of this self-concealment leaves very little room for character development. As an archetype, Vincent is viewed through many reflections, but the reader is left to wonder what is at the heart of her personhood—what it is she finds funny, or what books she likes, or whom she might truly love.

The unknowability of Vincent’s character is part of Mandel’s design. Vincent is a literary archetype so artfully constructed she has been named after the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (whose most famous verse includes the lines, “My candle burns at both ends/It will not last the night…”), but she is searching for a home rooted in reality, and such a home she can’t find or even describe to herself.