Loss

Each of the characters feels a sense of loss at different points in her life. Dorothea and Artie suffer from a loss of independence. Dorothea was never allowed to make choices about her future, growing up in America during the 1940s and 1950s. Her father controlled her life when she lived under his roof, refusing to let her go to college and arranging a marriage for her. When she married, she became just “a wife,” since her husband limited her to that role. The only way in which she could gain a measure of independence was through her adoption of eccentricity, which, she claims, saved her life.

Ironically, this woman, who suffered so much as a result of her loss of independence, caused her daughter to experience a similar loss. Dorothea felt compelled to provide for her child the opportunities that had not been available to her. Unfortunately...