Loneliness and Alienation

Adina’s lifelong belief that she is an extraterrestrial is an extended metaphor for loneliness and alienation. From a young age, Adina believes that she “has been sent to Earth” from her home planet of Planet Cricket Rice “to take notes on human beings” (19, 20). She communicates with her alleged intergalactic superiors about her experiences on Earth, explaining what it means to be a human. With the exception of Toni, Térèse, and Miguel, Adina tells no one about her secret identity. Over the course of the novel, Adina’s alien nature gains symbolic significance. Being alien is representative of Adina’s displacement, disconnection, and isolation. As a child, she feels abandoned by her father and often overlooked and unloved by her mother. During her adolescence, she feels like an outsider at school and amongst her peers. In her adulthood, she feels scorned and...