In the Dream House: 134. Dream House as Proof Summary & Analysis

In the present, Machado suggests that the proof of the abuse she endured exists in parts of her body, like her nervous system and cerebral cortex. She knows that she could only prove her case—not in a court of law, but perhaps to “the court of queer history”—through small, unrecorded, or nonexistent details, like witness statements from people who saw her and the woman from the Dream House fighting in public or the measurements of the woman’s grip on Machado’s arms. Machado wonders what it means to be able to prove something, and who gets to decide whether something is true.