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67. Dream House as Musical
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
One weekend as Machado drives back from Bloomington, she pulls off to find a gas station but gets lost. She doesn’t know what to do and starts to scream for a whole minute before realizing she’s screaming. She doesn’t know why she’s so upset—getting lost isn’t uncommon.
Machado’s reaction to getting lost is deep emotional distress, so intense that she feels as if she disconnects from herself. The moment is perhaps an outward manifestation of how lost, alone, and out of control Machado is feeling as her relationship grows increasingly violent.
Themes
