“Reading Lucy” by Jennifer Egan depicts the relationship between two friends that began from professional purposes. Over the course of the text, you see how their relationship continues to grow an does not fade despite the fact that the lost contact for a period of time. Egan reads the series of letters that Lucy and her husband Alfred write back and forth to each other. In the text it states: ” Lucy wrote to Alfred almost daily- often on the street car she took from twentieth avenue….”. From these letters it was as if she is witnessing the timeline of Lucy’s life before she discovers that she had died. Egan imagined the things she would say to Lucy if she was with during the times she read of in the letters. For example, she says, “Go to the yard, I imagined telling her…..Please, Lucy, get a transfer! Go to San Fransisco..”. Egan’s fascination with the kind of person Lucy was is what drove her to keep up with the events of her life, even after knowing she’s no longer alive.

The archival material that are provided depict the letters between Lucy and Alfred, photographs,and papers. The letters were a bit hard to read in my opinion because of the form of script. But from what I could tell, it was very significant form of communication for them. These materials may be made available for people to see in order to give us a better understanding due to the fact that it is coming from a primary source. It may help us to relate to them because certain aspects of their life that we see may appeal to some people in a way.