“The young woman came regularly to milk the healthy cow or to attend to the sick one, but never allowed her vision to stray in the direction of Oak’s person.” (p.21)

Though “seeing” and “looking” as an act hold a similiarity, there is a slight difference between them. We can “see” the things we are not intended to, but there is self-control in “looking”. We have the will to restrict our interest before “looking”.

Normally the girl had an interest in Gabriel but now she feels the need of controling it, due to psychic matters I think. If you don’t believe me, maybe the appearent contradiction in her behavior may convince you. She shows her interest at fixed intervals even towards animals, healthy or unhealthy, respectively, but she is stingy in revealing her concern towards Gabriel. She acts as if he is too far away or not existing at all. She supresses her interest away from her consciousness by focusing her attention at things of subordinate importance, hiding her concern from her self awareness. I think this stems from an ego weakness. The curtain she has drawn between them, her apathetic altitude, the so called “ignorance” can be interpreted as a defence mechanism… Because Gabriel had seen her while she was not ready for it and witnessed her vulnerability, she wants to show herself that she has the control of his looks by not noticing him. All she wants is to straighten her self image and to calm her conflicting inner dynamics at the unconscious level.