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100. Dream House as Cosmic Horror
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in In the Dream House, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Queer Visibility
Christianity and Shame
Abuse, Trauma, and Healing
Storytelling, Responsibility, and Freedom
Summary
Analysis
Years after the events in the Dream House, Machado writes part of her story in a barn on the estate of Edna St. Vincent Millay. While she’s there, she finds a mound of empty morphine and gin bottles in the woods from when Edna’s housekeeper discarded them. Edna had been cruel to all her lovers, both male and female, but when Machado sees this pile, she feels a twinge of sympathy: it must have been difficult to be Edna, just as it was difficult to be her romantic partner.
The physical proof of Edna’s pain causes Machado to sympathize with her when initially she felt little sympathy. It’s a moment that demonstrates the power of visibility, whether through pop culture, literary narrative, or physical evidence—if there’s proof that someone existed and lived a full, complex life, that person has more of a chance of being fully understood.
Themes
One day at the barn, a bird flies into Machado’s window, beginning a pattern of her finding dead birds outside her windows on writing residencies. She realizes that birds don’t see the glass, because they only register the reflection of the sky.
