I think that Clare's struggle to find herself is something we can really all relate to as women.  We have all been through stages in our lives where we felt that it was difficult to find our place in the world.  I felt that this was definitely a main theme throughout the book and I liked the fact that this theme was so relatable for me and I'm sure many other women.  A young woman trying to find her place and where she can fit in is something we can all understand and love to read about.  It seemed to me that Clare ultimately ended up being held back and brought down by her race and her skin color.  It's so sad to me that people base so much of their judgements of other people on skin color and where they are from.  I believe that the fact that Clare never really had a real "mother" figure to look up to in her life affected her in more ways than anyone realized.  She used sexual intercourse and other unhealthy relationships to fill her void of that missing mother figure.  The book ended with Clare's death which I believe is symbolic for the fact that Clare never really found her place in the world where she could fit in and feel comfortable with herself which is really sad and I believe can be blamed on peoples' racism towards her color as well as her mother's lack of activity in her early life.