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114. Dream House as the Pool of Tears
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
The same night the woman from the Dream House breaks up with her, Machado falls through a bookcase that she climbed onto so she could string lights from the ceiling to prepare for a party. John and Laura find her in the living room with blood running down her legs, crying. They look after her and call her friends, who come to the house offering help and comfort. Out of nowhere, a puppy wriggles onto her lap—it escaped from the neighbor’s house. Machado finishes setting up the house for the party, which is a roaring success.
Machado is surrounded by friends who want to help and support her, but she’s unable to enlist their help herself—it’s only when people happen to find her helpless and distressed that they can provide the help she needs. The eventual happy evening in the wake of Machado’s breakup shows that there’s joy—and opportunities for Machado to delight other people—outside of her relationship.
Themes
