As I continue to read Life Class I begin to realize that she's playing around with the chapter in that they are told from different perspectives. One chapter will be through Paul's eyes. Another will be through Elinor's. It's very similar to In the Time of the Butterflies. It's very interesting because that way we can see the same situation from two different perspectives. When Elinor goes to Belgium to visit Paul. "The room was not so powerfully full of Elinor's presence as it had been even a week ago" (Barker 230). He describes her time being there as powerful and meaningful. Her visit clearly meant a lot to him. He is head over heels about her that she seems to linger even after she's gone home to London.
When Elinor is in Belgium to visit him, her impression of the visit is completely different. She sees herself as being meek and shy and uncomfortable during the visit. "For the last part of the journey, she had a lump of fear in her throat, though the worst that could happen was that she would be refused" (Barker 209). Elinor was afraid that the worst would happen. She loved Paul to much to be too afraid. Had she but known that Paul loved her, all the anxieties could have gone away. If only the two characters could be reading the book, they would know that the other loved them and there was nothing to fear.