Previous
102. Dream House as Shipwreck
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
When Machado starts to experience the symptoms of pregnancy, she remembers all the TV shows she’s watched in which characters suddenly, supernaturally, become pregnant. Machado knows there’s no way she could possibly be pregnant, but she wonders all the same, especially because she and the woman from the Dream House have talked so much about having a baby. Machado takes a pregnancy test which is, unsurprisingly, negative. She throws it out in a neighbor’s trash can so the woman doesn’t find it.
Machado tends to indulge in idealistic, even fantastical, possibilities for her life. It seems as though she embraces escapism as an alternative to her restricted, violent reality. She’s scared that the woman will find the test, which emphasizes that she can’t be completely honest or indulge in innocent moments of whimsy in the presence of the woman.
Themes
