Under the tutelage of the Primer, Nell becomes an extraordinary person. But it is important to remember that this is not just because of it. She is a survivor, "a veteran," as the Constable calls her, of years of abuse at the hands of Tequila and Tequila's boyfriends. (252) And those experiences affected the way that she related to the Primer. She was eager to learn, and to take advantage of the companionship that the Primer gave her during those horrible years. And the Primer in turn was her teacher, mother, and confidante all rolled into one. There is a point where she gains a love/hate relationship with the Primer, after it tries to convince her it would be easy to kill her mother's abusive boyfriend Burt, when in reality, it wasn't. The Constable tells Nell after she relates these feelings to hime years after that momentous event that it would "do her well" to remember this lesson, as it taught her that "you must be ready to learn from other sources than your magic book." (255) And Nell does so, drawing strength from her real-life battles as well as the imaginary ones in the Primer.

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