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23. Dream House as Daydream
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
Over the following months, Machado and the woman from the Dream House have sex in many different places. Machado asks the woman to cover Machado’s mouth during one sexual episode. She thinks of their love for each other as a miracle. The woman constantly makes comparisons between their two bodies, including their different skin colors.
Machado frequently romanticizes her relationship with the woman: it seems like part of her pleasure comes from seeing their bond as fated or miraculous rather than an equal partnership. The woman’s habitual comparisons only emphasize this apparent inequality.
Themes
