Character Analysis
Nice Amy Pollock, and her nice father, Mr. Pollock, live in San Francisco. But Mr. Pollock has business interests in Alaska, which is what brings these two into the story. Amy wants an Alaskan pen pal, and so Mr. Pollock kindly stops Julie in the street to see if she'd like to write his daughter.
Julie is thrilled by this idea, and her regular letters from Amy are a lifeline to happiness and survival during her bleak time in Barrow. At the end of every letter, Amy always invites Julie to come stay in the pink guest room of their house in San Francisco, and Julie idealizes this as the perfect escape from her current situation. When Daniel attacks her at the end of Part 2, it's Amy's house that Julie heads for.
Civilization is Not All Bad
We get some pretty nasty descriptions of civilization in this book (let's be honest – Miyax is not a fan of the real world). But Amy provides the one glimpse into a non-tundra life that might not be so terrible. When we think about San Francisco, we don't think about a fight against nature; instead, we think about some pretty cool luxuries that aren't hurting anyone (wall-to-wall carpeting… whoa).
To add to this, we learn from Russell, a man Julie meets at the Quonset, that Mr. Pollock helps many locals who have drinking problems. It's a small detail, but an interesting one nonetheless. Does this kindness add to the dream of San Francisco, where everyone will be as wonderful as this man and his lovely daughter?