True Determination “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” (Thomas A. Edison). In April Henry’s novel, Girl Stolen, Cheyenne is a young girl of just sixteen who has been kidnapped from her stepmother’s car in a mall parking lot. She is blind, afraid, and completely alone. Having lost her mother the same day she lost her sight has made Cheynne into a strong, bright, self-determined girl. She has used that determination more than once to help her overcome seeming unfaceable obstacles in her life. Cheyenne was only thirteen when she lost her sight and her mother, which took a heavy toll on her mental health. She felt that her life was just begging and now it has ended before it even had a chance to start. She thought of everything she could no longer do or never get to experience again, such as driving a car. She fell into depression and felt like a prisoner inside her own body. “Her world had shrunk to the edges of her skin”(93). One day she realized this is not how she wanted to live her life. She no longer wanted to be bedridden and dependent on everyone to do things for her. Her stepmom gave her words of advice that she took to heart. “Instead she wanted Cheyenne to focus on what she had, on what she could do”(92). Slowly Cheyenne’s mindset changed and she became determined to overcome her depression and work to cope and eventually embrace her blindness. She successfully overcame her negative mindset. Another way Cheyenne used determination was actually putting her new mindset into action. She needed to work for her independence and put everything she had into creating an independent life for herself the best she could. She had to start from the beginning and learn the basics again. “She had to relearn things that she had known how to do for so long”. She worked against all odds fighting to regain her life. She picked up the broken pieces and slowly and tediously put them back together. In a few months, Cheyenne was able to navigate by herself and do most things that people with sight could do thanks to her determination. When Cheyenne got kidnapped she thought once again all hope was lost. At first, she lost all of her determination. She thought that there was no way out and that it was the end for her. Once again she had to change her mindset from losing all hope to unlocking her true potential. “She had done more than she had ever thought possible”(172). Cheyenne fought her way out. She was able to do the unthinkable escape from her captors using nothing but a small piece of glass and her own mind. She outsmarted Roy and took control of her own situation laser-focused on one thing and one thing only that was escaping. In the end, it was her staying calm and determined that got her out. It was Cheyenne’s mindset that saved her more than once. She pulled herself up from seemingly hopeless situations more than once. She would have sunken into a deep hole of depression and self-loathing. If it was not for putting her mindset into action, she would have never been able to pick herself up and start learning how to make her life her own again the best she could. Most astonishingly, she used her strong will and determination to face the most detrimental challenge in her life. Against all odds, she escaped from her captors. At the end of it all good or bad it is one’s mindset that determines one’s future.