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.