Trauma and Hardship

Trauma and hardship are pronounced elements both of the main narrative and the story’s background elements, and thus Zelda and Gert’s character arcs are heavily defined by the processing of persistent personal traumas. For example, although the novel does not often feature flashbacks, it does provide some background information about Zelda and Gert’s past experiences, which are noticeably defined by trauma and tribulations. For example, Zelda and Gert have no parental figures in their lives, as their mother was an alcoholic who died of cancer, and their father was neglectful and is now absent from their lives: “‘He’s probably six feet under,’ Gert said, meaning dead and buried under the ground. We are not allowed to talk about Dad, and only sometimes allowed to talk about Mom” (13). Moreover, for a period of time, they lived with an abusive uncle of...