Adora’s Name

Adora’s name would seem to suggest that she adores people, or they should adore her, but nothing could be further from the truth. Mother to Camille and Amma, and the deceased Marian, it is clear that she ‘loves’ the objects of her affection to death.

Teeth Pulling

The girls that were killed had their teeth pulled. The reader learns, later on in the novel, that they were used to create an ‘ivory’ floor in Amma’s dollhouse. They represent Amma’s desire to have control over others and to manipulate and use others as objects or commodities. She’s completely sociopathic and killing people for their teeth so she could decorate her dollhouse represents her inability to have empathy for others, or to view others with any sort of compassion.

Masturbation

Sexual activity of any kind represents inferiority and danger to Camille. This...