Cage

The cage is the primary narrative setting at the novel's start. This is the prison in which the narrator and her 39 female companions are held without cause or reason. In the cage, the women are constantly watched by a perpetually rotating set of guards. Although the guards seem to have no interest in what the women are doing, they are constantly regulating their activities and behaviors.

In the cage, the women's lives are highly restricted. They are not allowed to touch one another. They can talk, but must remain quiet and unemotional. They sleep on mattresses on the floor, but are not allowed to hold or comfort one another. They eat twice a day.

Because the narrator is a child when she first enters the cage, the cage is the entirety of her existence. As she comes of age, therefore, she must rely upon the other women to...