Loss

Throughout the novel, the author uses both Moth's and Sani's personal hardships in order to explore the ways in which loss might impact the individual's identity. Two years prior to the narrative present, Moth loses her mother, father, and brother in a car accident. Their deaths leave her feeling unhinged from reality, and incapable of living. In "I Used to Dance," Moth says, "Before the car crash I was a dancer . . . After the crash, I am still a dancer, but only in my head. / 'Cause dancing feels too joyful, too greedy now" (50). Because of the tragedy and loss she has suffered, Moth feels selfish that she wants to go on living. Her loss makes her feel guilty and ashamed, as if she must close herself off from life as a form of punishment. Not dissimilarly, Sani's fractured family life complicates his understanding of self. Like Moth...