Teeth as Motif

Throughout the novel, the author uses repeated images of teeth in order to convey the ways in which desire is often entangled with violence. Nearly every time the narrator describes an individual with whom Sammie comes into contact, she describes the appearance of their teeth and mouths. In “Winter,” she says that the man who tries to kidnap Samson smiles, “revealing a line of very large bright teeth. Super white teeth, all even. Maybe not even real teeth. Too perfect for that face” (6). The image reveals the man’s lascivious desire to take and hurt Samson. In “Spring,” Chapter 3, when Sammie and Monika take Samson to therapy after he bites his friend, the narrator says, “It was one thing to imagine that [Samson] had a terrible inner secret life [and] another thing . . . to watch it lash out, with actual teeth, and draw blood” (41). Shortly...