How does Norma’s feeling of being stuck between worlds come out in the story? In what ways might other characters feel a sense of duality or out of placeness?
Norma’s mother Lenore still grieves her miscarriages and is afraid of Norma’s being taken away from her. She can’t fully inhabit her role as mother and has to take to bed with headaches whenever she feels threatened.
Aunt June cannot disclose the truth of her lesbian relationship with Alice.
Joe is forever ashamed of “losing” Ruthie and not saving Charlie. He exiles himself from his family and culture, working with Mexican berry pickers rather than with the indigenous ones.
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At a young age, Norma questioned Lenore, her mother and father why her ear lobes were not attached like theirs, and why her skin was darker. She struggled with dreams that were so vivid to her only to have her mother tell her it’s only a dream. She never felt satisfied with the answers she was given.
Throughout the story, Joe struggled with Ruthie’s disappearance and blamed himself. As a result, he turned to drinking and made some very poor choices. He couldn’t live with his family for some time and went off out west trying to find himself.
Her mother, Lenore didn’t lead a happy normal life at all. She wouldn’t let Norma out of her sight. She was always fearful that Norma would be taken away. She kept the drapes in the house closed and it was always dark inside the house. Norma wasn’t allowed to do many of the things a young child would do growing up. She had to stay in the back yard, no riding her bike in the front of the house, her mother wanted to know where she was at all times. Lenore lived in constant fear and paranoia.
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