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34. Dream House as Here Comes the Bride
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 and the woman from the Dream House fight the whole way to Florida. When they arrive at the woman’s parents’ house, Machado feels like she’s in a movie, playing the part of a boyfriend being charmed by his girlfriend’s mother’s cooking. She and the woman keep fighting about small things. At one point, Machado walks away to sit by herself, but the woman comes to find her and grips her arm so tightly it hurts. This is the first time the woman touches Machado in an unloving way.
Machado’s first instinct is to place herself in the role of a pre-existing trope—that is, the charming boyfriend—which highlights the reverberating effect of representation within pop culture while also suggesting a drastic lack of queer representation in mainstream media. This moment also marks the beginning of the woman’s physical abuse toward Machado, which seems to be a form of retaliation for Machado claiming her own, private space. It seems that if the woman feels she can’t control Machado, she’ll become aggressive.
Themes
Later that day, Machado and the woman from the Dream House go swimming at the beach. In the water, the woman tries to hold Machado, but Machado stares at her instead and confronts her about the way she gripped her arm earlier. The woman’s face is expressionless for a moment before she starts to cry and apologize.
The woman doesn’t seem to understand that her acts of aggression upset Machado. She appears to lack the empathy that would allow her to realize how she affects Machado’s feelings, and it’s only when Machado prompts her that she demonstrates her remorse.
Themes
The rest of the time in Florida goes smoothly, except for one night late in their trip when Machado and the woman from the Dream House happen upon the woman’s parents fighting. Her father steps towards her mother, shouting. The woman keeps moving through the room, but Machado stops for a beat and makes eye contact with the woman’s mother. In the woman’s bedroom, Machado trembles while the woman worries that she might be similar to her father.
The woman’s seeming ignorance towards the aggressive situation suggests she has witnessed her parents acting in this way many times before. Machado’s eye contact with the mother implies that she feels sympathy for her: she knows how it feels to be threatened. The scene, and the woman’s reflection after it, highlight the cyclical nature of abuse and aggressive behavior.
Themes
