Stephanie’s physical distance from her family in this scene depicts her disconnection from them. Likewise, her close proximity to Noreen connects the two women, both of them now outcasts. Earlier, Stephanie looked down on Noreen, associating herself with the other popular Crandale women, but the falseness of this identity becomes clear in this moment of painful clarity. Stephanie, like Noreen, is truly an outsider. At the same time, Noreen finally but briefly appears as a real and complex human, one with sufferings and desires of her own.