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Joanne is Lauren’s closest friend in their Robledo community. The Garfields, one of the community’s few white families, share values of faith, education, and support with the Olaminas, thus making the two families natural allies. Lauren perceives Joanne as intelligent, practical, and reasonable, but soon comes to realize that even people with these traits can choose to live in denial rather than face reality. Joanne is the first person with whom Lauren decides to share her fears for the future and plans for escape. She urges Joanne to read about indigenous plants and survival techniques, as she wants the residents of their community to be prepared when the neighborhood’s protections inevitably fail. However, Joanne turns the book over to her mother and shares Lauren’s frightening prophecies. This revelation upsets the Garfields, who believe that Lauren is spreading unnecessary and unreasonable fear. This betrayal affects Lauren and Joanne’s friendship, but even in her anger Lauren understands that, in going to her parents for comfort, Joanne was seeking emotional protection from reality. In other words, Joanne wishes to remain in comfortable denial about the future of the world rather than coming to terms with it.

When Olivar is bought by the company KSF, the Garfield family jumps at the opportunity to move out of Robledo. Lauren believes that Joanne knows, on some deeper level than she is willing to excavate, that Olivar will not live up to its promises of safety and security. However, despite Joanne voicing concerns to Lauren, she still chooses to go to Olivar with her family. Joanne’s situation is undoubtedly difficult—the people she loves and depends on are living in denial and making poor decisions, and thus she must do the same or be separated from them forever. Unlike Lauren, who has been planning her departure from the community and her family for years, Joanne is unwilling to leave her parents. While Lauren genuinely wishes the best for Joanne and hopes despite the many concerning signs that Olivar fulfills its promised purpose, it seems likely that Joanne, along with her family, are headed toward a life of corporate slavery. Joanne’s fate is a consequence of being unwilling to accept and adapt to change.

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