Guilt

The members of the Wilf family internalize their guilt in their own ways, which leads to different external circumstances for each of them. Sarah begins an affair solely for the purpose of "[being] punished," knowing this is happening psychologically because of all the therapy she had undertaken to that point (130). Meanwhile, Theo, the person who was driving the car when Misty died, turns to food as an escape. Him opening his restaurant is characterized as him "giving over completely to his demons" (116), and he immediately "[tries] to fill the gnawing void" in himself by eating on the night of the accident (109). Ben is able to keep his guilt better under control so that it does not affect his life as much, but it alters the way he sees the world in certain fundamental ways. He wonders if humans are "no different from any creature in the...