Answer:
both use an axe as their murder weapon
In Mattie's mind, Blanchard's balloon—“a yellow silk bubble escaping the earth”—symbolizes freedom, particularly an escape from her home, where she feels as if she's trapped and treated like a child.
As with any author's decision to use 1st person, her intention most likely -- in this story -- was to get her readers to go along for the ride into madness and cultivate a certain amount of sympathy for the narrator and her plight. The constant use of "I" puts readers in the narrator’s head and allows them to empathize with her.
Prescription and drug coverage are nouns