“That was how I coped with unpleasant things. Once I found out something worse, then it was easier to deal with. Whether it was a filling at the dentist or an end-of-term physics test, finding out things that were worse helped me deal with new challenges.” 

While getting her nose ring, Robie reveals that she has to psych herself up in order to deal with pain and challenges. 

“My heart pounded a little as I crossed the avenue. I’d never realized that I did everything in Honolulu with someone, either AJ or my parents. Come to think of it, everything I did, I did with someone. Even on Midway, when I was alone, people were never very far away.” 

Robie is adventurous but she is not fearless. She notices her isolation and she feels her vulnerability. This quote and these traits typify the liminal age is she at, one on the border between child and adult. 

“I felt an overwhelming need for reassurance, for someone to tell me everything would be okay. That I would be okay. But no one did.”

As the plane crashes, Robie realizes that she has no one to reassure her, andthat things might not end well for her. Here, she reverts to a younger, less mature mindset, again showing her as on the cusp of adult and child, and able to lean away from responsible action in moments of true fear and calamity.