Mrs. Fisher says, "That's Lily all over, you know: she works like a slave preparing the ground and sowing her seeds, but the day she ought to be reaping the harvest she oversleeps herself or goes off on a picnic...Sometimes...I think it's just flightiness, and sometimes I think it's because, at heart, she despises the things she's trying for" ( 198).

Mrs. Fisher seems to understand Lily through and through. Lily knows what she wants and is a master and manipulating her way into getting it. When she does get it, however, she lets go. Mrs. Fisher doesn't miss a beat when she realizes that Lily never really wants what she goes after in the first place. Even though she represents wealth and triviality, Mrs. Fisher seems to be as good at reading people as Lily is herself.