Melissa and Nick's House

Melissa and Nick's house symbolizes the socioeconomic security Frances covets. It is the only setting for which she provides a detailed description, telling the reader about the dark wooden bowl filled with ripe fruit, the glass conservatory, and the Modigliani painting hanging along the stairway. Her description is not just a narrative device. When Frances comes home from university for vacation, her mom tells her that she talks constantly about the comparative luxury the Conways can afford. Since Frances' narrative is told in the past tense, her decision to start by detailing her first visit to the Conways' house shows she considers it the most important place in her narrative.

Melissa and Nick's Vacation House in France

Melissa and Nick's ability to take regular vacations also symbolizes their possession of an upper middle class socioeconomic status Frances lacks. More importantly though, the vacation house symbolizes...