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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
A week after the trip to Savannah, Machado and the woman from the Dream House are having sex when the woman tells Machado she loves her. Machado is confused and asks her if she means it; the woman says she does. Machado says she loves her, too, realizing as she says it that it’s the truth. The woman says that all she wants is to stay in Iowa with Machado.
Though Machado receives the woman’s expression of love happily and reciprocates it, she seems caught off-guard by it. There’s an uncertainty to their exchange that makes their growing relationship feel a little hurried and ambiguous.
Themes
