Are memories valuable?

How are memories valuable and/or detrimental? Are they guideposts that can help people live their daily lives? Are they suggestions about how people should look at the future? Are they anchors that keep people tied to the past in both good and bad ways? How do Astrid's memories operate in White Oleander? Is this a good indicator of how memories work for most people? Are memories a necessity and/or a plague and why?

Is beauty "nothing"?

Is beauty really "nothing" as Astrid believes? Does it only mean something if "you intend to use it" (W.O., pg. 301)? Is it otherwise "just something for people to use and admire, or envy and despise" (pg. 301)? Is it something for the beautiful "to nail their dreams onto"? Does Astrid only undervalue beauty because, as Paul says, she's "'never been ugly'"(pg. 301)? From your perspective, what is the true value of beauty?