Art

In the novel, art symbolizes an individual's relationship with the world around them. Three characters in the novel work in an artistic medium, and the type of medium each one chooses reveals the way that person sees the world. Melissa, who is a photographer, treats anyone in her home as though that person is a subject in her studio. She dominates conversations so that any retelling of an event must be centered around her, as when she consistently tells the story of her husband, Nick's, pneumonia instead of allowing him to do it. That choice allows Melissa to make hers the dominant point of view, even though she is not in the story herself. She is able to control the presentation of an event without being present, just as she does in her photography.

Frances, the narrator and protagonist, is a writer. In the beginning of...