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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
Machado sees clichés as extremely dangerous, because they allow people to skate right past what someone really means. When she researches queer abuse, she focuses on singular details, like one woman’s experience of her partner stoning her on a beach, and her having to swim away to escape.
Machado is committed to understanding and reflecting the complex, unique elements of often neglected stories. It’s important to her to respect each character and person’s historical journey, and not to attempt to homogenize them into a unified experience.
Themes
