Pauline tells her personal story of growing up through paradoxes and insights that blend social, religious, and moral textures. Her world is populated by people who turn to violence or sink into quiet despair--it is a world damned. Pauline, her family, schoolmates, teachers, and friends are driven by tempestuous individual imperatives and the social deprivation they encounter. Full of satire, fantasy, energy, and lyricism, this chronicle portrays a reality that neither poetry, nor dreams, nor Pauline's fantasies can weaken.