Reinvention

The main theme throughout the book is that of reinvention. Joan Foster is constantly trying to start over and recreate herself. There is no doubt that her terrible mother has left her scarred and unsure of whom she really is, or who she really wants to be. Joan’s persona changes with the context.

Immediately upon moving out, she changes her name. She does this to not be discovered, but in the process, it erases her history, history that she never tells anybody until the very end of the novel when she feels like there is nowhere else run. Like Joan, many of the other characters have a duplicitous personality and attempt at reinventing themselves as well. Paul the Polish Count is also a writer under the name, Mavis Quilps. He enjoys writing the books but feels it isn’t a respectable way to make a living. The...