The paper explains that Victor, from "Geoffrey Becker's "El Diablo de la Cienega", who is a young star
basketball player,
and Elizabeth, from Ann Packer's "Horse", who is an introverted, bookish young woman excelling in reading, are both individualists who, in different ways, excel in solitary pursuits. The author of the paper points out that the authors of both stories balance the inner and outer life of the
protagonists in different ways, depending on the protagonist's gender and maturity; but ultimately, both of these solitary people must come to grips with both their larger world and their developing senses of self. The paper states that Victor and Elizabeth both are driven to close, yet highly conflicted relationships with their surviving mothers because of their status as children in single-parent families.