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35. Dream House as House in Florida
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
In the present day, Machado analyzes the story of Bluebeard. He allowed each new wife to do whatever she liked, as long as she didn’t open one particular door which would reveal to her the bodies of all the previous wives he’d killed. Machado says that this single request was really just a test—if she passed it, there would be more requests, and she’d have to tolerate Bluebeard’s barbaric behavior in many more ways. She obeys her husband because she believes that’s how love becomes durable.
Machado’s analysis of the Bluebeard story is one that emphasizes the tendency of abuse victims to tolerate their situation in order to prove their loyalty. Her deep understanding of Bluebeard’s wife implies that she has experienced a situation of violence herself and suggests that the relationship between herself and the woman persisted because of the complex interplay between violence, loyalty, and submission.
Themes
