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58. Dream House as 9 Thornton Square
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
George Cukor often caused the actors of his films mental distress in order to get them to perform in the ways he wanted. One example of this is with Judy Garland, whose resulting scene in A Star Is Born is stunningly effective. In that scene, Garland sobs in her dressing room before collecting herself and returning to the film set to perform.
Machado highlights the repetitive, exhausting cycle of enduring abuse, then pretending everything is fine. The example of Garland emphasizes how such behavior is really just a performance.
Themes
