Graduate School and the Glass Door Barrier Summary and Analysis

After college graduation, Temple builds a new improved Squeeze Machine while at home. Although she suffers from nerve attacks and alternates with eczema and colitis, she finds healing and calm in the new machine. She does not want to become dependent on the machine but fears that she will become too vulnerable emotionally if she doesn't use it, as it opens her up to people. Using it, she says, even makes the cat like her better, which is good for a smile.

When Temple leaves for graduate school, she is plagued by feelings of "self-doubts and a sense of worthlessness." She fixates on a sliding glass door as a symbol of getting through these bad feelings. It is a supermarket door. She stands there and looks at it at...