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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dream House, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Privilege, Understanding, and Historical Change
Truth, Accountability, and Memory
Parental Love vs. Romantic Love
Rebirth and New Beginnings
Humor, Ignorance, and Denial
Summary
Analysis
Patricia. In a flashback, Patricia is sitting alone at home when a worker comes to ask her to visit a woman in labor. Richard is gone, possibly loitering at a pub “with the latest stable girl from England.” Though Patricia has attended many births—of animals, of humans, even of Rachel—she believes each one is distinctive, except that the mother is always separated from her observers by her pain.
Earlier, Beauty recalled inheriting an anorak from a stable girl whom Patricia didn’t like to talk about. Together with this scene, the novel implies that Richard had affairs—showing again that the Wileys’ marriage failed.
Themes
When Patricia arrives at the labor, Looksmart’s mother says she’s in pain. Patricia encourages her to view the pain as a helper in delivering the baby. After an hour, Looksmart’s mother gives birth. Patricia says the baby, which repeatedly screams, will be a “strong little chap.” The mother names him Looksmart. Patricia stays to watch the baby sleep and drink tea with his mother, though she doesn’t ordinarily stay after births.
Patricia was telling Looksmart the truth when she said she attended his birth and heard his mother name him. That Patricia stayed to watch over Looksmart after his birth—unusual behavior for her—hints she may have been emotionally vulnerable at the time, which may in turn partly explain her intense attachment to Looksmart.
Themes
Patricia goes daily to visit baby Looksmart. She doesn’t tell Richard, not only because she and Richard avoid talking about children, but also because her interest in the baby is similar to her affair with John: a movement “towards everything Richard was not—towards life.”
The novel has heavily implied that Patricia and Richard had a baby who died. When Looksmart was born, Patricia and Richard were avoiding talking about children, which suggests their baby died before Looksmart’s birth. Patricia may have transferred her maternal feelings from her dead baby onto Looksmart, seeing him as a fresh start, a second chance to be a mother, and a movement “towards life” after her baby’s death.
Themes
Richard. In the present, Richard thinks that he has always felt alienated in the farmhouse, since it belonged to Patricia through her father, whereas he lived in it “on good behaviour” [sic], which made him want to be “bad.”
In previous scenes, the Wileys’ house has symbolized how the past influences the present. This scene suggests that the backstory of the Wileys’ marriage—in which Patricia came from economic privilege and Richard relied on her family wealth—made Richard resentful and desirous of being “bad.” The novel has already suggested he cheated on Patricia repeatedly—but the reader is left to wonder what other “bad” things he’s done.
Themes
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As alienated as Richard feels from the farmhouse, it shocks him to find the driveway and gate gone. He sees a house with “the top half […] removed,” wonders whether it’s really his house, and concludes it must be. Seeing “guests” in motley clothes, he thinks they don’t look like Patricia’s sort of people and wonders whether the “old bitch” is dead. He sees his dirty boots and concludes she must be. He decides to join the guests, pretending to be one of them. Yet as he approaches and hears their language, he decides he’s afraid they might hurt him. He creeps toward his bedroom to sleep but finds a windowless, vacant place with a donkey where his bed used to be.
Richard’s mental state is deteriorating. He mistakes a new, half-constructed house for an old house with “the top half […] removed” and concludes someone must have partially demolished the Wileys’ farmhouse. He also mistakes the construction workers for “guests.” Yet while the reader might view his memory loss as an opportunity to regain his innocence—a rebirth—he retains past hatreds and prejudices, referring to his wife as “the old bitch” and making the racist assumption that the construction workers—who are speaking a non-English language, presumably isiZulu—want to hurt him.
Themes
Beauty. When Beauty takes the biscuits from the oven, they’re burned, but she hopes they’ll divert Patricia and Looksmart from their conversation. As Beauty approaches, Looksmart says his parents named him “Phiwayinkosi Ndlovu” but called him Looksmart for Patricia’s benefit. Then he says he came to talk about Grace, whom he loved. When Patricia denies knowing he loved Grace, he says she wouldn’t have.
Patricia told Looksmart the truth when she said she remembered his mother naming him. Yet even an accurate memory may not be enough to know the truth about the past: Looksmart’s parents, according to Looksmart, gave him an English name in front of Patricia and an isiZulu name in private. The revelation that Looksmart loved Grace suggests that, perhaps, romantic love has motivated him to seek justice for her murder. That Patricia never knew of his love may mean that Looksmart hid his feelings. But it could also be another example of her being unaware of other people’s concerns.
Themes
When Beauty enters, Patricia asks whether Bheki is looking for Richard. Beauty says yes, gives Patricia tea, and turns to leave. Looksmart, calling Beauty “Togo,” asks for his tea with milk. She carefully pours another cup, wanting to “insult” him with “excessive ritual.” He demands she give him “three and a bit” of sugar. She puts in three spoons only “and declines to stir.” When Patricia orders Beauty to continue searching, Beauty doesn’t realize for a moment that Patricia is talking about Richard.
When Looksmart calls Beauty “Togo,” it suggests that like Looksmart himself, Beauty has an English name and an isiZulu name. Calling her by her isiZulu name could be an attempt at solidarity—except that Looksmart subsequently orders her to serve him tea, flaunting that she’s a servant while he’s a guest. Beauty’s desire to “insult” Looksmart, her refusal to give him all the sugar he wants, and her “declin[ing] to stir” all show that she resents him for flaunting his higher status.
Themes
Looksmart. Talking aloud, Looksmart compares Richard to a dry moth that Looksmart could crumble to dust between his fingers.
Looksmart hasn’t seen Richard in years, which means he isn’t comparing Richard to a dry moth because he’s witnessed Richard’s decline. Rather, he remembers Richard as desiccated and contemptible.
Themes
Though a teacher once told Looksmart he had poetic talent, Looksmart mistrusts words because people misuse them in real life. Patricia warns him against “mak[ing] a serious mistake,” and he realizes he wants to take the chance of making such a mistake. Though he occasionally cheats on his wife and his taxes, he’s otherwise lived an upright, profitable life—which makes him feel as though even his footsteps sound “like the words in a sentence that is known to be a lie.” He demands Patricia admit all she remembers about Grace. Patricia protests that “it happened such a long time ago.”
Looksmart’s mistrust of words implies he’s aware how easily people can lie and thus how hard it is to find out the truth about past events. When Patricia warns him against “a serious mistake,” it isn’t clear whether she’s talking about his implied threat to harm her or his belief that Grace was murdered. Either way, Looksmart’s life without serious mistakes seems to him like another “lie.” That Looksmart doesn’t consider cheating on his wife a serious mistake hints that he doesn’t care about her—though whether that’s because he still loves Grace or for some other reason isn’t clear.
Themes
Looksmart recalls an afternoon, sitting on the veranda with Patricia, when from the dairy they heard a scream that “sound[ed] barely human.”
Grace used to work in the Wileys’ dairy, so readers can infer the scream Looksmart is remembering came from Grace the day she died. Since Looksmart has previously criticized Patricia for dehumanizing her Black employee Beauty, the description of Grace’s scream as “barely human” hints that her death resulted from inhumane treatment by her white employers.
Themes
Looksmart asks whether Patricia never questioned Grace’s torn clothes. When Patricia asks whether Grace was “half-dressed,” Looksmart asks why that fact didn’t make Patricia question what had happened. Patricia replies that that’s what the police were for.
Looksmart and Patricia’s memories agree: the day Grace died, her clothing was torn or removed. Yet their agreement about the facts of the death isn’t enough for them to determine who was morally accountable seeking justice for Grace: Looksmart believes Patricia was accountable, whereas Patricia assumed it was the police’s responsibility.
Themes
Looksmart reflects that he came to the Wileys’ to force Patricia to understand about him and Grace. He says that on that day, he was waiting for Grace to come to the house “because she wanted to get married.” When Patricia echoes, “Married?”, Looksmart thinks that to Patricia, Grace is someone “whose future husband is not even worth a thought.” He says Grace was going to ask for time off. Patricia asks what Looksmart is attempting to communicate. Looksmart thinks that day taught him how Patricia saw Grace as “less than human,” which changed his relationship to Patricia and started his hate.
Looksmart interprets Patricia’s echo of the word “married” as surprise, and he sees her surprise as a symptom of her ignorance of Grace’s humanity. Patricia never really thought about Grace and so never considered that Grace had a life and private desires. Tellingly, Looksmart sees this attitude not only as an insult to Grace but as an insult to Grace’s “future husband.” This scene reveals that Looksmart began hating Patricia because of her anti-Black racism, implicit in her attitude toward Grace.
Themes
Looksmart says when he saw Richard’s dog chasing Grace, he couldn’t trust his eyes. Then he perceived Grace as “half a woman, half a dog.” Grace screamed, and workers came running. Looksmart tried to get at the dog, but the dog kept moving so Grace’s body blocked his way. Patricia asks whether he’s all right, and Looksmart realizes he has begun screaming.
Looksmart’s memory of Grace as “half a woman, half a dog” describes the dog attacking her ferociously. Symbolically, the description suggests that the violence committed against Grace was dehumanizing.
Themes
Patricia. Patricia remembers Grace’s death, but she thought Looksmart was already gone by the time she died. She was angry at Grace because Richard told her Grace “provoked” the dog into biting and sprinted away, exciting its violent instincts. She wants Looksmart to “admit” Patricia herself pulled the dog away from Grace, got it into the house, and locked it in a bathroom. Afterward, Richard prevented Patricia from shooting the dog, claiming the dog was “only doing her job” and that the workers would never bother her again. Later, however, someone poisoned her.
That Patricia doesn’t remember Looksmart at Grace’s death suggests her memories of the event are vague. Her assumption that Richard told the truth about Grace “provok[ing]” the dog shows how subconsciously willing she is to blame her Black employee for the violence committed against her. Yet that Patricia wanted to kill the dog while Richard wanted to save it suggests that Patricia was far more horrified than Richard by Grace’s mauling.
Themes
Patricia asks Looksmart what his relationship to Grace was, though she has already figured it out—she prefers his painful speech to his crying. Then she asks whether Grace wanted to marry him.
Patricia’s question makes explicit what readers have likely already assumed: on the day of Grace’s death, Looksmart was waiting for her to ask the Wileys for time off so she could marry him.
Themes
Bheki. Bheki, in the rain, spies a man (Looksmart) sprinting onto the veranda “as if the whole house is on fire.”
The Wileys’ house represents the continuation of the past into the present; remembering Grace’s death, Looksmart finds the past so painful it’s figuratively “on fire.” He feels the need to repress the past as one would flee a burning house.
Themes
Looksmart. Looksmart sprints onto the lawn and vomits. Reaching into his pocket, he feels the knife but not his keys and realizes he left them on the mantel. He plans to go fetch them and leave in silence, regretting his decision to come: “Nothing has changed. People like her are still sitting in their houses. People like him are still looking in.”
Looksmart’s conclusion that “nothing has changed” suggests that when he first returned to the Wileys’, he thought perhaps something had changed—that his post-apartheid success would empower him to challenge white landowner Patricia’s narrative about their shared past. Since the Wileys’ house represents the influence of the past on the present, Looksmart’s sense that Patricia still occupies the house while he is outside it indicates that he has now decided she and landowning white people like her still control personal and historical narratives about the past.
Themes
Bheki asks Looksmart whether he’s all right in isiZulu. As a child, Looksmart looked up to Bheki because Patricia let Bheki (and only Bheki) drive her car. As he grew older, however, he looked down on Bheki, seeing the car as the thing of value and Bheki as a “puppet” whose “strings” Patricia manipulated.
In the novel, cars represent (racially) unequal access to wealth. Looksmart came to feel contempt for Bheki because Bheki only has indirect access to wealth through Patricia’s employment of him. Looksmart fails to consider how his educational privileges gave him access to wealth and employment opportunities that Bheki has never had.
Themes
Bheki asks in isiZulu whether Looksmart needs help and who he is. Looksmart replies in English that he’s Phiwayinkosi, but Bheki should remember him by the name Looksmart. As Bheki asks more questions in isiZulu, Looksmart continues to reply in English, speculating to himself that he’s trying to communicate his own social improvement relative to Bheki.
Looksmart himself suspects he’s lording his privilege and status over Bheki by insisting on speaking in English, yet he keeps doing it—suggesting that in this moment of emotional stress, he’s losing self-control and indulging in immaturity.
Themes
Looksmart asks Bheki whether he’s moving with the Wileys to Durban and whether he has children. Bheki tells him about his son, Bongani. Looksmart takes cigarettes from his jacket and offers one to Bheki, thinking that “Bheki won’t refuse a cigarette […] Underneath, he’s as needy as the rest of them.”
Looksmart doesn’t specify who he means by “the rest of them,” but context suggests he’s talking about the Wileys’ Black employees. He seems to hold those employees in contempt, thinking them “needy,” even though his mother used to be one of them.
Themes
After they’ve smoked a bit, Looksmart asks whether Richard is really insane. Bheki switches to English to tell Looksmart that Richard’s condition isn’t as bad as that. When Looksmart asks whether Richard is “faking,” Bheki replies that Richard usually comes home. Looksmart thinks they’re using English to hide “their shared knowledge about the old man” because “for them, English remains the language of lies.”
The passage doesn’t make clear what “shared knowledge” Bheki and Looksmart have about Richard, but if they have to lie about it, it can’t be good. That Looksmart’s portrayal of English, which was brought to South Africa by white colonizers, as “the language of lies” suggests that white supremacy is a fundamentally dishonest ideology that forces the people it oppresses to lie.
Themes
In isiZulu, Bheki is “carrying on” about his son; Bheki is moving to Durban with the Wileys because he hasn’t been able to get good treatment for his son around the farm. Looksmart thinks Patricia must have promised to take care of the son if Bheki came with her, but Bheki has failed to appreciate how “when you have money on your side, you get to say what must happen.” He tells Bheki he works with the people who bought the farm and, if Bheki wants, he’ll get him a job and help his son so Bheki doesn’t have to move.
That Looksmart describes Bheki pejoratively as “carrying on” about his son reveals Looksmart’s contempt for Bheki. Given this contempt, the reader can infer that Looksmart offers to help Bheki not out of kindness but to spite Patricia, poaching her employee to prove his own wealth and power—to prove that he has “money on [his] side” and so “get[s] to say what must happen.”
Themes
Beauty. Beauty, preparing to serve soup to Patricia, hopes Looksmart has left. He was considered arrogant as a child, and Beauty thinks “people don’t often change.” Even Richard, having forgotten nearly everything, is “defending himself against the same hurt.” When Beauty carries the soup into the sitting room, she asks Patricia where Looksmart is. Patricia asks whether his car is in the driveway. It is. Patricia asks Beauty to bring some soup for Looksmart too.
Beauty’s belief that “people don’t often change” hints at another reason new beginnings are impossible: even when people desire a transformation, they can’t transform. Beauty’s belief that Richard is “defending himself against” some emotional wound is intriguing and strange: even though his dog killed her sister, Beauty can understand and sympathize with him to some degree in a way that other characters can’t.
Themes
Patricia asks Beauty whether Looksmart loved Grace. Beauty claims not to know. Patricia stares at Beauty “as though she wants to see the world through Beauty’s eyes” but soon stops; both women know it’s impossible for Patricia to occupy Beauty’s perspective: “even those who see each other every day are finally blind to one another.”
Patricia wants to understand other people, including Beauty—but wanting to understand others doesn’t mean she can. In previous passages, understanding has often broken down along hierarchies of privilege: privileged characters have trouble understanding disadvantaged characters. Here, though, the novel suggests the problem may be more general: all people, even intimates, are “finally blind to each other.”
Themes
Patricia says Looksmart claimed he was present for the dog attack, though she doesn’t remember him there. Beauty, hoping Patricia will be content with “a small amount of truth,” says he was present but left after. Patricia asks whether he left because of Grace. Beauty claims she was too young at the time to know.
Once Patricia realizes she can’t trust her memory, she turns to Beauty’s memory to discover the truth. Beauty’s reaction demonstrates the problem with relying on others’ memories: Beauty gives Patricia only “a small amount of truth,” telling her as little as possible and thus—the reader infers—misleading Patricia.
Themes
Patricia asks what Beauty remembers about Grace’s death. Beauty claims she remembers little. Patricia replies that Beauty can say “anything.” Beauty thinks she could invent something but, unlike Looksmart, doesn’t have much capacity for producing words. She says she saw Grace carried to the car; Bheki had left the farm to get married at that point, so Looksmart drove. Though Beauty knows Patricia “wants to think about anything but the moment of putting the girl in the car,” Patricia asks whether Looksmart took Grace to the hospital. Beauty confirms it.
By reassuring Beauty that she can say “anything,” Patricia betrays her own knowledge that she, as Beauty’s employer, can retaliate against Beauty if Beauty says something Patricia dislikes. Beauty believes Patricia “wants to think about anything” but loading Grace into the car, a belief that may foreshadow future revelations about the day Grace died.
Themes
Patricia asks whether Beauty saw the dog attack Grace. When Beauty says she was at the dairy, Patricia replies, “So you didn’t see anything.” Beauty, silent, allows Patricia to believe this is true. In response to further questions from Patricia, Beauty says Looksmart and some stable workers put Grace in the car and Looksmart alone drove her to the hospital. Patricia thanks Beauty, claims they don’t have to discuss the issue anymore, and silently dismisses her by turning her attention to the soup.
Patricia’s statement, “So you didn’t see anything,” assumes that since Beauty didn’t see the dog kill Grace, she didn’t see anything pertinent. By allowing Patricia to believe this is true, Beauty is clearly concealing something: she knows more than she says. Patricia, ignorant of her underprivileged employee’s greater knowledge, dismisses her rudely. This illustrates the complicated relationship between the women, in which Beauty knows more but has much less power than Patricia.
Themes
Looksmart. Looksmart, in the yard, sees Patricia sitting in a wheelchair on the veranda. They chat briefly about the weather; suddenly, Looksmart says he doesn’t understand her “kind,” who act like things are fine when they aren’t. Though he’s aware she may have faced similar criticisms in the past, he thinks she’ll receive them differently from him, “the one who was once the receptacle of all her hope.”
When Looksmart thinks of himself as “the receptacle of all [Patricia’s] hope,” it reveals that he senses the depth of Patricia’s maternal feelings for him. He speculates that her feelings will make his criticisms of her more effective–that their emotional relationship can counteract some of the blindness caused by Patricia’s privilege.
Themes
Looksmart wheels Patricia inside and sees his keys on the mantel beside a bowl of soup and speculates that “Togo” (i.e. Beauty) brought it. He recalls many girls in his childhood were called Beauty or Grace because “mothers wanted to raise their daughters up a bit, out of the dirt”—yet he disliked such names. Beauty’s African name is Togo and Grace’s was Noma, which is also the name of one of Looksmart’s daughters. Patricia warns Looksmart the soup is vile, something she’s never admitted to Beauty. Looksmart tries it and agrees,
Several Black South African characters in the novel have both isiZulu and English names. Looksmart believes that when Black mothers on the farm gave their daughters English names like “Beauty” or “Grace,” they were doing so to try to “raise their daughters up.” Yet Looksmart dislikes such names, perhaps because he knows English names for Black South African people are a legacy of colonization and white supremacy. By giving one of his daughters Grace’s isiZulu name “Noma,” he expresses grief for Grace and, perhaps, racial and cultural pride. Interestingly, Patricia and Looksmart bond by making fun of Beauty’s cooking—which demonstrates that Patricia cares for Beauty somewhat (she wouldn’t insult Beauty’s cooking to her face) but also that Patricia and Looksmart share a condescending attitude toward Beauty.
Themes
Patricia. As Looksmart finishes his soup, Patricia sees that his tie is sticking out of his pocket, “giving the suit a tired look, as though it is panting.”
Earlier, Patricia compared Looksmart’s suit to a disguise. Now the suit looks “tired” and “panting,” which suggests the disguise is falling away as he and Patricia speak more honestly and become more emotionally intimate.
Themes
Looksmart. Patricia says Beauty informed her Looksmart was present at the dog attack and took Grace to the hospital, but Beauty hadn’t heard about Grace and Looksmart’s relationship. Looksmart claims no one knew. When Patricia asks whether Looksmart’s mother didn’t know, Looksmart thinks he didn’t tell his mother because of his age, the family’s inability to afford the lobola, and Grace’s social position—his mother would have thought her educated son was too good for a dairy maid. Looksmart repeats that no one knew—Patricia is the sole person he’s informed. Patricia asks why. Looksmart replies: “Wait a bit.”
The isiZulu word lobola refers to a gift that a groom’s family conventionally gives to the bride’s family before a wedding. Up to this point, the novel has focused primarily on Patricia’s maternal feelings for Looksmart; the reader hasn’t learned much about Looksmart’s actual mother. Now the novel reveals Looksmart’s mother was ambitious for him: not only would she have thought that his youth and poverty disqualified him from an early marriage, but also that as an educationally privileged person, he had too much status to marry a manual laborer like Grace. When Looksmart tells Patricia to “wait a bit” to discover why he’s telling her all this now, it foreshadows further revelations to come about Grace’s death.
Themes
Looksmart asks whether Richard will come back and eat soup. Patricia jokes that he may, as Beauty’s soup is infinite—but neither she nor Looksmart smiles.
During Looksmart’s childhood, he and Patricia used humor and teasing to express their love in a racist society that disallowed overt affection between white and non-white people. Humor allowed them to connect, but it also obscured the true, oppressive context in which their relationship took place. Now that Looksmart is trying to force Patricia to see the whole truth of their past, their humor is fraught: they are not inclined to laugh at their own or each another’s jokes.
Themes
Looksmart, standing and turning his back to Patricia, says he can’t forgive her because she “wanted to protect [her] seats.” He says Patricia told him not to put Grace in the car. Though Patricia didn’t say it, she was worried about Grace’s blood getting on the back seat. She ordered him to take Grace to the “bakkie” in the dairy. When Looksmart reached the dairy, Richard had driven it away. Only after Looksmart came back did Patricia allow him to put Grace in the car. Grace died on the drive to the hospital.
Up to this point, cars have represented (racially) unequal access to wealth. When Looksmart attributes to Patricia a desire not to let Grace bleed on her car seats, it suggests Patricia was more interested in preserving her racial and economic privilege than in saving Grace’s life—and that the delay this caused may have contributed to Grace’s death. (A “bakkie” is a vehicle like a pickup truck.)
Themes
Patricia. Patricia recalls how she used to love visiting newborn Looksmart. She would walk to Looksmart’s mother’s hut with the dogs, and they would wait outside while Patricia visited. But after about three weeks, Patricia sensed Looksmart’s mother didn’t want her there; her presence wasn’t “the way things were done.” She stopped visiting. A few times after, Patricia asked Looksmart’s mother to bring him up to the Wileys’ house.
Throughout the novel, dogs have represented the fraught, violent relationship between white South African people and Black South African people. That Patricia brought her dogs with her to visit infant Looksmart shows that despite her love for him, her racial privilege always affected their relationship. Looksmart’s mother’s sense that Patricia’s care for Looksmart violated “the way things were done” underscores the racial barriers to their relationship.
Themes
Looksmart. Looksmart tells Patricia that, so far, he’s told her about things he witnessed. Yet there’s more. As he carried the wounded Grace, she whispered something he’s never revealed before: Richard caused her death. Patricia, shocked, asks how. Looksmart says Beauty came into the dairy and witnessed Richard raping Grace. Patricia says the story is “ridiculous,” but without conviction. Looksmart says that when Grace saw Beauty, she screamed, escaped Richard, and ran away. When she ran, Richard unchained the dog Chloe and sicced her on Grace. Patricia asks whether Looksmart is accusing Richard of murder. He says he is.
The novel has repeatedly implied that Richard was a violent man and that he was unfaithful to Patricia. These facts prime both Patricia—who calls Looksmart’s story “ridiculous” but seems not to believe her own denial—and the reader to accept Looksmart’s story. That Richard used a dog—animals that represent the racist relationship between white and Black South African people—as a murder weapon symbolically reinforces the violence of South Africa’s white supremacist history.
Themes
Richard. Running through the night, Richard yells for his wife, whose name he’s forgotten. When he sees a house barely beginning to be constructed, he stops. He wonders whether he’s traveling back in time, since each time he sees a house, it’s “less built.” He decides that, rather than being dead, everyone is as yet unborn, with “their whole lives ahead of them.”
Richard’s confusion reinforces how Richard is losing his memory and grip on reality. Richard’s confusion also undercuts his belief that everyone has “their whole lives ahead of them”—the reader suspects that such rebirths are impossible, not only for a murderer like Richard but for any of the novel’s characters.
Themes
Patricia. Looksmart watches Patricia. She wonders whether he wants to convince her what he’s saying is true and thereby dispel any remaining questions he has. Patricia asks whether Looksmart talked to Beauty about what happened. He asks, rhetorically, whether the police would have believed him or Richard. Then he says that if he had stayed, he might have killed Richard. Patricia suggests Richard may be too much of a “bigot—,” and Looksmart interrupts, “To fuck a black girl? Evidently not.”
When Patricia asks whether Looksmart talked to Beauty, she’s inquiring whether he sought out another witness’s memory to find out the full truth. When Looksmart replies with a rhetorical question indicating that the police would have believed whatever rich, white Richard said, he’s suggesting that what he and Beauty remembered wouldn’t matter to the “official” story about what happened. Patricia and Looksmart’s exchange about whether Richard is too much of a “bigot” to “fuck a black girl,” meanwhile, suggests that he dehumanizes Black women even as he lusts after them.
Themes
Patricia knows Richard used to try to have sex with each stable girl the farm hired from England. Though his first affair wounded her, it allowed her to justify her subsequent affair with John Ford. She punished Richard with no sex, separate bedrooms, and a lack of companionship, until “finally she denied him her imagination”—which she may regret, “for what other acts had he committed during her absence?”
Patricia knew about Richard’s affairs with the farm’s white female employees—she’s not surprised Richard would sexually target their employees, but that he would target a Black girl. Patricia’s admission that she “denied him her imagination”—that she refused to think about him—reveals Patricia is sometimes intentionally blind to other people’s inner lives and that this tactic backfires on her, because she then doesn’t know what “acts” they have may have “committed.”
Themes
Patricia concedes Richard may have had sex with Grace, given his other affairs, but denies Looksmart can say Richard sicced the dog on Grace without “the facts.” When Looksmart asks about these “facts,” Patricia claims Grace was tormenting the dog when the dog freed itself. When he asks who told her that, Patricia admits Richard did. Looksmart laughs.
Patricia’s admission that she believed Richard about Grace shows how racial privilege determines whose version of history is believed. Looksmart laughs not to connect with Patricia but to scorn her gullibility.
Themes
Patricia claims she never sent Looksmart to get the bakkie—he put Grace directly into Patricia’s car. He points out that a moment ago, Patricia didn’t even remember he was present, so how can she claim to remember about the bakkie? Patricia claims “it is all coming back,” feeling that her account is as accurate as Looksmart’s—both of them are telling a story and papering over the things they don’t remember.
Patricia’s claim that “it is all coming back” is strictly a lie, but it reveals something true: namely, that in the absence of objective evidence, the characters are arguing for the version of events they want to believe, based on their own untrustworthy memories.
Themes
Looksmart says that if Patricia remembers, she’ll remember him carrying Grace to the dairy while she “hid in the house.” Patricia claims she was locking up the dog or trying to find Richard, but she didn’t care about the car seats. When Looksmart reacts incredulously, Patricia points out she “never even said it.” Looksmart insists that she “thought it”: otherwise, she would never have made Looksmart carry Grace to the bakkie or put down “flea-ridden blankets” in her back seat before letting him put Grace in her car.
Even when Looksmart and Patricia remember the same events, their interpretation of events differs. They both remember Patricia going into the house, but they have different memories of what Patricia did there. Looksmart’s claim that he knows what Patricia was thinking about the car, even though she “never even said it,” suggests their closeness; at the same time, it suggests Patricia valued Grace less than she valued her dogs, since she allows her dogs to ride in the car but hesitated to let Looksmart put Grace there.
Themes
Patricia fights a lot with Richard and is accustomed to yelling. She would be able to appreciate this fight with Looksmart if it weren’t for the subject, because it “reminds her of a world in which things matter […] and where there are consequences to their actions.”
The reference to Patricia and Richard’s fights reminds us that their marriage went bad a long time ago. That Patricia almost likes fighting with Looksmart because it suggests that “things matter” and “consequences” exist hints that on some level, Patricia wants to be held accountable for her bad “actions.”
Themes
Patricia asks Looksmart why he’s bothering with her and with events long past when he’s married with children and economically successful. He tells her he wants her to understand the same things he does.
Looksmart’s claim that he wants Patricia to understand is ambiguous: he may want to punish her by taking away her privileged blindness to the harm she’s caused, yet he may also want to reestablish their old closeness by helping her to see what he sees.
Themes
Beauty. Beauty runs along the path between the house and the dairy. Yelling for Bheki and Richard, she feels alone despite knowing Patricia and Looksmart, “ghosts [. . .] still blind to one another,” are in the house. She longs for Bheki’s physical presence but can’t find him. She feels that she’s been running the same path “since she was a girl, always in the opposite direction from Grace.”
Beauty’s description of Patricia and Looksmart as “ghosts […] still blind to one another” shows that she sees them as stuck in the past and unable to understand each other’s perspectives. Her sense that she’s running the same path as Grace but “always in the opposite direction” suggests she felt close to her sister but that they were different people with different goals.
Themes
Looksmart. Looksmart tells Patricia he first saw both the dog as a puppy and Grace upon returning from school. His relationship with Grace and the dog—his “love” and Patricia’s “fear”—matured simultaneously, so he sees them as one entity: “that double thing, that creature—the beast.” He says Patricia should have saved Grace’s life but instead retreated, which proved she never valued Looksmart but only her car. He imagines himself forever trapped with the beast. He thinks his wife noticed and then forgot that there was something wrong with him, while his daughters still assume he should be “complete” and are confused that he isn’t.
When Looksmart describes the dog as Patricia’s “fear,” it suggests the dog represents white fear of Black people more generally—a racist fear that leads to white violence against Black people. Looksmart cannot separate his romance with Grace from the Wileys’ dehumanization of her and Richard’s violence against her. Thus, he remembers her as “that double thing” and “the beast.” Looksmart saw Patricia’s actions on the day of Grace’s death as proof of her anti-Black racism and desire to maintain unearned racial and economic privilege (represented by the car). Patricia’s racism, in Looksmart’s view, reveals her maternal love for him to be a lie. He suspects that these traumas—Grace’s violent death, Patricia’s love revealed to be a lie—have alienated him from his wife and children.
Themes
Patricia admits she can’t remember what she was thinking the day Grace died, so it’s possible she was worried about her car seats and didn’t do enough to help Grace. She asks why Looksmart can’t accept the moment is “lost.” Looksmart denies it’s lost, because he remembers it “every day.”
Memory is fallible. Patricia isn’t sure what she was thinking about her car, so she has to admit she might have been protecting this symbol of her racial and economic privilege when she should have been helping Grace. Yet the past inevitably affects the present—Looksmart remembers his painful past “every day”—and so the characters have to care about their fallible memories and not give the past up for “lost,” even though they can’t be sure they know the truth about it.
Themes
Beauty. When Beauty returns to the house to tell Patricia she can’t find Richard, Patricia demands the “truth” about Grace’s death. Patricia notes that demanding truth seems to startle Grace, as if “such a thing has never been asked of her.” When Patricia asks again what Beauty saw, she sees unprecedented fear in Beauty’s face. In isiZulu, Beauty claims she saw nothing. Patricia asks why Beauty seems fearful.
Beauty’s return to the house, which represents the effects of the past on the present, gives Patricia another opportunity to question Beauty about the past. Beauty’s surprise—as if the truth “has never been asked of her”—illustrates how prior to this point, Patricia has been blind to Beauty’s inner life and hasn’t considered her memories or opinions.
Themes
In isiZulu, Looksmart tells Beauty not to be afraid; he and she know the truth. Patricia perceives “feigned compassion” in his tone. Beauty, irritated, tells him in English that he doesn’t know the truth. Patricia tells Beauty not to be afraid and that, since Richard can’t remember anything, Beauty has a responsibility as the one who remembers to tell the truth. When Beauty hesitates, Patricia promises not to “blame” her.
Looksmart thinks of English as the language of lies. When he speaks to Beauty in isiZulu, he may be trying to convey honesty—or racial and cultural solidarity. Yet Patricia’s perception of his “feigned compassion” and Beauty’s annoyance remind the reader that Looksmart has treated Beauty with hostility and lorded his higher status over her. Beauty’s claim that Looksmart doesn’t know the truth hints there’s more to Grace’s death than even he knows. Finally, Patricia’s promise not to “blame” Beauty for what she says hints that both Patricia and Looksmart have more social privilege than Beauty—and so really could retaliate against her if she told them a truth they didn’t want to hear.
Themes
As Beauty speaks, Patricia senses her story is “only making a gesture in one general direction.” Beauty explains she was cleaning in the dairy when she heard a noise. Looksmart asks whether Richard and Grace were on the floor. Beauty agrees. Looksmart adds: “His hand is over her mouth.” Beauty says Grace saw her; then she trails off. Patricia asks whether Grace escaped. Beauty agrees. When Patricia asks whether Richard sicced the dog on Grace, Beauty begins “panting like a dog” or like “a woman trying to give birth.” She says Richard unchained the dog, which ran. Looksmart adds: “He waits to see the dog catch her, doesn’t he?” Beauty agrees.
Patricia’s sense that Beauty is “only making a gesture” implies Beauty’s story is a mere sketch of events, not a complete account. Her sense that Beauty is gesturing in “one general direction,” meanwhile, implies Beauty is omitting details that might lead her listeners in another direction. Looksmart’s interruptions, additions, and rhetorical questions during Beauty’s story reveal that he simply wants her to confirm what he already believes. That Beauty begins “panting like a dog” suggests that Patricia and Looksmart’s interrogation is dehumanizing and retraumatizing her—yet the other comparison, that she’s panting like “a woman trying to give birth,” implies she really is producing some new truth in the world, however painful the process may be.
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Looksmart makes a “gesture of relief,” but Patricia thinks his relief is false: rather than removing his own burden, he has only partly passed it to her. Patricia asks Beauty why she didn’t tell the police. Beauty protests she was young and afraid of Richard. Patricia asks whether Richard knew Beauty had seen him. Beauty replies: “No one knows what I saw.” Patricia senses Beauty feels this is now false: what she’s told Looksmart and Patricia will “define her sister,” Grace.
Patricia dislikes Looksmart’s “relief” because knowing the truth doesn’t change the burden of what happened—it provides no rebirth or second chance, only spreads around the pain. When Beauty says, “No one knows what I saw,” it implies that she still hasn’t told the full truth about what she witnessed. Yet Patricia doesn’t take Beauty at her word; she assumes Beauty is thinking about how she has, in some sense, “define[d] her sister” in a new way by rewriting their group memory of her.
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When Beauty asks whether Patricia will tell Richard what she’s said, Patricia pities her fear. She asks whether Richard made advances toward Beauty. Beauty denies it, claiming Grace “was the last one from the farm.” Patricia ponders Beauty’s inner life: while she used to think she understood Beauty extremely well, she now realizes “that was only vanity, or laziness, or wishful thinking.” When Patricia says they won’t discuss the matter again, Beauty asks about Richard. Patricia asks, “What about him?” Beauty responds by asking whether Patricia “still want[s]” him.
Beauty’s claim that Grace was “the last one from the farm” indicates that Richard stopped sexually targeting his employees after he murdered Grace. Patricia’s realization that her assumptions about Beauty’s inner life were “vanity, or laziness, or wishful thinking” suggests that there are various reasons a person might think they know other people better than they do. Patricia and Beauty’s final dialogue about Richard is suggestive. Patricia is still dismissive of Richard, but Beauty’s question about whether Patricia “still want[s]” him makes clear that Patricia, his wife, has to decide what to do now that she knows he’s a murderer.
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