The Lee Residence

The Lees live in a small town in northwestern Ohio near the college where James teaches. Much of the action of the novel takes place in the Lee residence, including significant conversations between the siblings, parents and children, and James and Marilyn. The Lees are the only family with Chinese heritage in the neighborhood. Neither the parents nor the children have company over throughout the course of the story or in flashbacks. Indeed the house seems to give them an opportunity for isolation.

After Lydia's death Marilyn very rarely appears outside the house or even outside Lydia's room. She defines herself in relation to the house and domesticity when she refuses to cook for her family and later identifies herself as a "hysterical housewife." James has his office and later Louisa's apartment as a retreat, and Hannah, Lydia, and Nath all have places they can go...