Chapters 4 through 7 Summary and Analysis

Alice arrives home and finds her father has lunch prepared. She says that she wants to "slam dunk the fact that no one needed to worry about this tough customer." She says that she is hungry, having had nothing in her mouth for the past twenty-four hours except "a cracker and a cock." She says she knows her parents will understand the meaning - that she's the same - though it shocks them. Alice goes with her parents the following day to pick up her sister from college. She has multiple bruises, including some on her neck that are just beginning to be evident and notes that people are staring at her.

At home, the family gathers for dinners - a rare event before the attack. While watching television together, the family worries that a scene of violence might...