Character Analysis
Poor Thea. She's the girl in the background, a regular Eponine. Thea falls in love with Augie while he's staying with Mrs. Renling at Benton Harbor. She tries to convince Augie to return her love, but he's way too into her sister Esther.
Thea returns to his life later and succeeds in winning his heart, if not his trust. She has a wild dream of living in Mexico and training an eagle to hunt lizards, and she talks Augie into following her in this adventure. It fails when the eagle proves too timid. She grows jealous of Augie and leaves him, but Augie gives more attention to their turbulent relationship than he does to any others.
Augie describes her fondly:
She was a kind of universalist, believing that where she stood the principle laws were underfoot. And this made her tremble, but also she was daring. (18.76)
Like other women in Augie's life, Thea is strong-willed and seeks to be an influence on Augie. She simply assumes that Augie will follow her to Mexico (14.13) and, without a care for his tastes, outfits him for the trip:
Thea has such very exact ideas as to what I should put on…It was evident that she was used to having what she wanted, including me. (14.15–23)
Thea's a lot like Augie—quick to fall in love, quick to lose interest, but all the while very much in need of other people. When she leaves Augie, she doesn't head out on her own. She's already found a replacement. She doesn't unpack suitcases, but lives out of them regardless of the mess and disorder. She can't seem to stay in one place for long. And she longs for something "better than what people call reality" (14.21).
Perhaps Augie falls for her for so long because they are alike:
I went where and as she said and did whatever she wanted because I was threaded to her as if through the skin. (14.16)