Confinement

Confinement, however subtly woven throughout the novel, is a recurring theme. While it cannot be known (unless publicly stated) whether author Attenberg consciously intended this, Mazie's experiences nonetheless reflect feelings of being caged—literally, however temporary, in the Venice Theater's ticket booth. This is not even symbolic, although can be compared to demands for societal conformity as evoking a sense of imprisonment to free-spirited Mazie Phillips and those like her.

This even extends to Mazie's confining her secrets in the pages of a diary, and of course within her mind. In the whole of her life, she shares these with only a few people (Sister Tee, Captain Hazzard, Jeanie), and those very selectively. Like Captain Benjamin Hazzard, though without his personality-warping obsessions, Mazie is confined/limited by how she sees herself as fearless, self-defined, able to control men, and as an eternal rebel. This seemingly extroverted...