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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 compares the “sixth sense” she gained after her time in the Dream House—a feeling of repulsion she feels at random—to a vaccine, something that lets an illness run through one’s body, allowing the body to remember and fight it.
Though Machado experienced verbal and psychological—not physical—abuse, she experiences its aftermath as a physical manifestation, emphasizing its permanent and visceral effect on her.
Themes
