Grief

An important theme in this book is grief. Grief is felt from the moment the book begins. The reader senses that something has happened to Bee's younger sister Tess, and it is not until a few chapters in that it is confirmed that she has died. Once this is confirmed, the grief builds in the many of the characters, for Tess was greatly loved. Soon it is learned that Tess was the first to suffer from grief.

Only a few days before Tess had gone missing, she had given birth to a stillborn baby. She also had been given hallucinogenic drugs, which exacerbated the effects of her grief over the death of her child. Her dark paintings of the doctor and screaming woman revealed the emotional pain she was in. These paintings become even more significant, as well as her grief and pain, when they are compared to...