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Val/Carmen Maria Machado’s Wife
Joel is the pastor who joins Machado’s church when she’s 16 years old. He and Machado become close friends despite their large age gap, and after they meet several times in his church office with the door closed, they begin going out to diners late at night to talk. Machado shares personal details, like her experience of sexual assault, with him, and he tells her that he loves her. But when Joel learns that Machado kissed a boy for the first time, he tells her to ask for forgiveness, and the joy of her romantic moment turns to shame. Machado is confused by Joel’s conflicting stances on chastity and love, and it’s clear that he uses her naivete to his advantage. His influence, and the wider influence of Machado’s Christian faith, send her mixed signals about what a healthy relationship looks like, which leave her ill equipped to identify inequalities and abuse in her future romantic encounters, including in her relationship with the woman from the Dream House.
Joel Quotes in In the Dream House
The In the Dream House quotes below are all either spoken by Joel or refer to Joel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
19. Dream House as Bildungsroman
Quotes
“What should I do?” I asked him, the question slipping out of my mouth before I could stop it. Until that moment I’d been, secretly, excited, bolstered with the newness of a man’s stubble across my face, hands that went where I wanted them to. But in Joel’s silence, which carried a whiff of disapproval, I recalled the sin of it.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire In the Dream House LitChart as a printable PDF.
Joel Quotes in In the Dream House
The In the Dream House quotes below are all either spoken by Joel or refer to Joel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
19. Dream House as Bildungsroman
Quotes
“What should I do?” I asked him, the question slipping out of my mouth before I could stop it. Until that moment I’d been, secretly, excited, bolstered with the newness of a man’s stubble across my face, hands that went where I wanted them to. But in Joel’s silence, which carried a whiff of disapproval, I recalled the sin of it.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
