Act 4 of "A Privileged Past" shifts its focus from the author and his experiences to his wife, Anne Winston, and her family, especially on the high plains of Oklahoma and the Pacific shores of southern California. This woman’s parents were descended from tenacious farmers, circuit preachers, and committed teachers. Arising out of a dysfunctional family, however, Winston’s quest for control over her personal life was located in educational and professional achievement in German Studies before 1984. The dominant metaphor of this chapter concerns sight, a natural sensibility that the protagonist has sharpened over years with her acute visual memory.