but here , in this woman , my admittedly ambivalent girlfriend , they all spoke with such personality , such conviction that when i made the leap , when i started thinking this was not her , or anyone in particular , i started picturing not the people , but each voice as having its own history , its own ... life , communicated from person to person , generation to generation , as part of the psyche , but at the same time maintaining such individuality , in tone , intent , perhaps even cadence , that it could be judged as a separate living thing .