Previous
65. Dream House as Diagnosis
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, Machado describes an I Love Lucy episode in which someone pretends to be someone else, his lies making Lucy feel uncertain. Machado feels uneasy watching it: even though it seems like it should be funny, it reminds her of the abuse in Gaslight.
Machado’s experience of abuse means she’s highly attuned to how abuse manifests in surprising ways. Her interpretation of an apparently comedic moment shows how her trauma remains with her, affecting her attitudes even while considering benign fragments of pop culture.
Themes
