An Education.

Sheldon Stryker: The norm in society and what her parents wanted was for her to get an education and go to university to be independent and self sufficient, But she went against this and wanted to travel with the older people she had met and saw her education as pointless and boring.

Althusser: She decided that she didn't want to follow everyone else and conform to societies expectations with going to university so went against this. However, when David had asked her to marry him, her family didn't care about her throwing her education away as she could live off him and his wealth. She only realised that she had thrown it all away and done the wrong thing when she discovered that he was already married.

Marcuse: The audience can be both passive and active. They could be passive in the sense that they dont have a say in what she does as its in the past and accept what she is doing, but active as they can see she is making a mistake in choosing this man over her education and are questioning what he wants her for, how long it will last, and if its worth it.