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86. Dream House as Demonic Possession
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 thinks about Adam, the biblical first man. In her opinion, his task of having to name all the animals—making up language that hadn’t existed before—must have been very difficult.
Machado’s concept of language is tied to her understanding of the Christian faith, highlighting the deep imprint her churchgoing years had on her. This reflective moment also suggests, without explicitly stating, that Machado found it incredibly difficult to understand that her relationship was an abusive one, having never experienced such a thing before.
Themes
