Toughness

I think there can be many definitions of toughness. I certainly agree with you Nicholas that Anney is the toughest character in the book. I can't imagine living a life that she is living. Being so young with two daughters and having lost another baby, having an abusive husband. You've got to be tough to deal with that.

The first thing that came to my mind when you said tough was a story about Ronnie Lott. Lott played safety for the San Francisco 49ers back in the 80's. During a game he somehow managed to get his finger cut pretty deeply. He came off of the sidelines for one play where he told the trainers to just take it off. They wrapped his newly shortened finger with tape and he was back in the next play. To me that is the first thing I think of when I hear the word toughness.

I think when people hear the word tough they think off a biker gang or a boxer or something along those lines. Although those are good examples I believe that one of the greatest example of toughness would be Dr. Martin Luther King. During the Civil Rights movement King was constantly being threatened to just shut up and give up. He had much opposition, but he never gave up. He had a goal in his mind and he wasn't going to let anybody stop him. Toughness isn't always a physical description as it can also be a mental description.