Escapism

The escapism demonstrated by the characters within the novel shows the boundaries of what the human spirit and an individual family may withstand. Although Zeke must principally contend with the heartbreak of losing Helene, the rest of his family must also contend with the void he opens in their lives by creating another life that they then must worry about providing for. The characters must maintain some façade of family life and sanity, contributing all the more to individual delusions of escape and return to an easier way of life or dependence on another person to save them.

Initially, Willa thinks about the way her own mother used to help in putting her back together, giving her somebody to lean on in tough times. She understands that the emptiness in her life she experiences through having to be her own rock has in a sense...