When our lives take a turn in the opposite direction from the sturdy, straight path we are accustomed to, it is because there is some kind of nagging force present in our lives, either internally or externally, which is beyond our control. It is only when we cannot cope with these internal and external aspects of our existence that we tend to give up all hope for our lives to improve, and resort to merely putting up with the pathetic lives we lead. The characters in the novels Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland and Courage My Love by Sarah Dearing, Susan Colgate and Nova Philip, experience this loss of hope, and both find themselves taking spiritual journeys with the hopes of finding what truly makes them happy, aspiring to improve their outlook on life. When the internal and external aspects of the lives of Susan and Nova are examined, it is evident that Coupland and Dearing have created characters that are very much alike. .
One of the most influential factors on a person's outlook on life is his or her self-esteem, an important internal aspect of everyone's lives. In both Miss Wyoming and Courage My Love the reader is introduced to a protagonist who has extremely low self-esteem and is miserable on account of it. The driving force behind Susan's shattered self-image is from her over-bearing mother, Marilyn, who forced her into competing in beauty pageants at the tender age of six. Within the beauty pageant scene, Susan won a few trophies and lost a few titles, and it was those moments of defeat when her mother felt the need to put her down.
Oh my, a runner-up I have a daughter, yes, but she's a winner, and you couldn't possibly be her because your sash says FIRST RUNNER-UP, which means the same thing as losing (Coupland 34).
Comments as such were what ultimately caused Susan to think so poorly of herself, especially when they were being spoken by her own mother. As for Nova Philip, her self-esteem issues were derived mostly from her lifeless marriage with her husband, Brendan Donahue.