Counting by 7s is a novel by Holly Goldberg Sloan. The main character, Willow Chance, is a 12-year-old girl so intelligent that she has trouble fitting in with the other kids at school. While for her family life, she is quite unfortunate: her parents die in a car accident, and she struggles to move forward from this tragedy. The story portrays the warm people helping Willow to start her new life. However, to fully her characters, it is capturing the reasons and turning points. In this essay, I will discuss the cause and logic behind Willow’s personality. Though Willow seems gifted and precocious, she is, after all, a child.

Same as all geniuses, Willow is lonely. Willow shows her talent in multiple ways: at such a young age, she is obsessed with plants and medicine. For instance, a typical note from her to the taxi driver: “You need to have a dermatologist perform a punch biopsy on the mole (nevus) on the back of your neck.” The professional terms “dermatologist” and “punch biopsy on the mole” suggest her in-depth knowledge. Moreover, Willow continues by explaining, “if it is not too much of an invasion of your privacy, I would very much like to look at the pathology report. I will be taking a taxi next week at the same time. This is important, so please do not take this medical suggestion lightly”. Her matter-of-fact tone, saying “too much of an invasion of your privacy,” “very much like to look at the pathology report,” and “please do not take this medical suggestion lightly,” is a further contrast of her expression from her age - a young girl talking in the way of an experienced adult. It is too early for a 12-year-old to know and say that, so she is cognitively separated from the others: she cannot convey her thoughts to her peers, nor can her peers understand that. The ones who can make true interactions with her in life are her garden, her “sanctuary,” and her parents, “two people I love most in the world.”

This unwavering loneness enables Willow to think profoundly but traps Willow in her little world. Willow spends a lot of time separated from the rest. She builds relationships by observing: “even though she is dressed the part, the woman seems to be losing all of her authority.” She pays close attention to the action of others and generates her logical evaluation. Furthermore, she also thinks deeply based on her observation and knowledge. Having spent much time in her head, she is mature enough to conclude some things in life: “every person has lots of ingredients to make them into what is always a one-of-a-kind creation.” After all this thinking and perception, Willow has developed a thinking loop. For knowledge, she understands quickly but she cannot convey her thoughts to others. Thus, Willow reads more and more about that, keeps them inside herself until times of need, and gets back to gathering more knowledge. For social interaction, she carefully observes other people and thinks for a logical evaluation but never actually points out. After finishing that, she gets to observe others again. True, this loop is good for understanding, enabling her smartness and talent to cover many aspects of life. However, it is not healthy. The loop seals Willow inside her world: Willow can stay in her comfortable studying zone without active interaction with others. She processes all the information inside her head and does not find it necessary to convey the output to others. This lack of active communication is what restricts Willow from being genuinely mature.

The death of her parents is a changing point in Willow’s life and personality. It is a giant strike for Willow that the ones who can truly understand her are gone. “And I experience the hollow feeling of complete loss, which is emptiness. Meaning has been drained from my life.” Though Duke and Mai’s family warmly helped Willow, there is nowhere in this world that Willow truly belongs. This grief is continued and worsened by Willow’s inability to open herself to others. “No matter how hard they try, other people do not understand because I’m incapable of communication.” Having spent the long, solitary years, Willow has no experience expressing her feelings to others. Typically, this is not a problem for her, as I addressed in the previous paragraph. However, in terms of tragedy, outward expression matters. “The deepest form of pain comes out as silence.” When accumulating grief in one's mind, it silently grows, creating overwhelming and excruciating pain.

Therefore, to escape this mindset, Willow is forced to step away from her world to touch the outside. At first, she seems indifferent to the help of Mai’s family, but she also learns to be warmed up. Aside from the standard observation of objective facts about others, she starts to see emotions.” And then I realize the waitress has him right where she wants him. He looks more anxious now.” When she discovers that others are in need, she tends to help them, “Pattie says: “Do both.” I feel bad for him and offer: ‘I’ll help.” Feeling bad is something that hasn’t appeared in the past, and it shows that Willow is beginning to experience some empathy for others as she tries to build the connection by offering,” which is an active response.

Another instance is when she “can see that Quang-ha is confused”. She “point[s] to the left side of the building. ‘Over there. The third one is his living room’.” In this situation, she couples the emotion of the others with active helping, which is a new step out of her little world. Learning social interaction, she finally finds new hopes and attractions in life after her parents pass away, “[t]he Old Me would have screamed from the crash. The New Me expects these kinds of things”. Expectation contrasts with Willow’s initial response, “I need to rewind. I want to go back. Will anyone go with me?”, indicating that she is beginning to get out of the tragedy and look forward. After a few months, Willow’s thoughts were even tenser, “But I smile anyway. I realize that it’s a true smile. I will go forward into the world and do my best to be the daughter that my parents would have wanted me to be. I’m not brave; it’s just that all other choices have been thrown out the window.” Knowing that there is no choice but to accept, Willow has grown so much mature after the tragedy. At the same time, she becomes quite positive: the “true smile” is not only her instant emotion but also her attitude towards life. Socializing is no doubt a primary contributor. “If the last few months have proven anything, it’s that I don’t need more theory, but rather more experience with reality.” “Theory” is the thought and genius inside her head, while “reality” is the interaction with others to feel the vivid sense of life. Willow has finally learned to interact more with others and to develop her interests for life, not only from the theories.