Throughout the novel That Was Then, This Is Now, Cathy is seen as a compassionate and thoughtful young lady that cares for those that are close to her. Whether it is family, friends, boyfriend, or even people she doesn’t know very well, she will care for those people. During the scene when they find M&M in the hippie house tripping on drugs, her compassionate side comes to light. “M&M, baby, it’s me-Cathy.” Cathy kneeled down in front of him.” (Hinton 139) This shows that she really cares for her family members and the people that are in her life. Another case is when they are at the hospital waiting to see if M&M will get better, she desperately wants her little brother to be okay and recover from the awful situation he is in. She keeps hoping that he will go back to be being the same M&M he was before, even though the chances are very small. Another side of Cathy is that she can get emotional when things turn for the worst. When M&M was at the hospital, and she and Brian were in the car she broke down crying.
She cried so much that even Brian was caught up in her outburst. “In the car Cathy broke down and cried. I drove to the park and stopped. I held her while she cried. She was almost hysterical. I was crying too.” (Hinton 143) This is when it becomes obvious how emotional Cathy can get when bad things happen. Another case of when she got that way is when Brian was beat up by Shepard. When she came to see him, she broke down crying because he was hurt so badly. When Brian looked up at her she was crying a lot.
The final aspect of Cathy that is shown is that she trusts Brian a lot. One case is during the time that she is with Brian when he is recovering from being beaten up by Shepard. “All right.” She smiled at me like I knew everything on Earth, like whatever I said went, and it really made me feel good.” (Hinton 134) Her open attitude towards him shows that she really trusts Brian. Another case of her trusting Brian is the times that she breaks down crying and she allows Brian to comfort her. It involves a lot of trust between two people for that to happen. She wants him to comfort her and help her calm down. When a girl is letting someone see her like that, that says that she really trusts them and believes that they will help her get out of this situation.
In conclusion, in the book That Was Then, This Is Now, Cathy is seen as a thoughtful, loving, and compassionate girl that cares for the people that she is close to. My final thoughts on her, is that in the end Brian should have stayed with her instead of throwing her away like he did. It was obvious that Brian was in a predicament with Mark and his family, and that he was having trouble dealing with the situation, but Cathy went through a similar experience with M&M. During that time, she stayed with M&M, but when Brian went through his ordeal, he shut Cathy and his family out. In the end, Brian should have stayed with Cathy and not have thrown her out like he did.
