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117. Dream House as Sodom
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
Back in the Dream House timeline, the woman from the Dream House asks Machado to visit her in her hotel room in Iowa. Machado says no but goes anyway. She screams and cries at the woman, who tries to hold her, but she struggles away. Machado has sex with her because she can’t see another choice. The woman tells her she’s no longer in love with the other person she told Machado about. Machado convinces herself everything will be okay.
Machado tries to escape a reunion with the woman, but it seems that no matter how hard she tries, she’ll inevitably end up back with her again. Though they reunite, they don’t appear to align in either their physical or emotional needs, and Machado has to comfort herself, a clear sign that the situation distresses her.
Themes
A week later, someone asks Machado if her girlfriend (the woman from the Dream House) has found an apartment in Iowa. Machado realizes the woman isn’t planning to move in with her like she said. She calls the woman, who says that things are “complicated” and that she can’t be a good girlfriend while she’s in love with someone else.
The woman’s statement about being in love with someone else directly conflicts with what she told Machado just a week previously. Their rekindled relationship appears to exist on particularly shaky ground, with Machado unsure of the woman’s intentions or the level of her commitment.
Themes
