The conspiracy
In "The Premonition," the family is conspiring to commit a murder, which makes Whitney Paxton's premonition into a kind of horrifying prophecy. If the reader takes away the mystery of time, ignoring that he read the future, the end dynamic is just that Paxton learns that his family is evil. This is a horror that perplexes him emotionally, because he realizes that his support network is demonic and capable of evil. This symbolizes a loss of innocence.
"The Doll"
For Florence, the dollhouse symbolizes the trap that ends up consuming her as she slowly becomes a doll. A doll is not a real person; it is something that looks like a person but doesn't have animation. The symbol is that her horror of self keeps her contained in her personality performance. She isn't suffering because her personality is unsuccessful; she suffers because she is nothing but personality, having become so skillful that she insulates herself from vulnerability and intimacy.
The obsessed cat lady
The cat lady does the same thing that Florence does, but instead of limiting herself to personality, like in "The Doll," she pretends that her intimacy with a cat can replace her husband. Miranda is trapped in isolation, because she can project her emotional need for connection onto her cat. Julius ends up even more alone than before, because she attached herself to something beside him. The cat symbolizes Miranda's refusal to deal with the problems in her life and in her marriage.
Virginity and intimacy
Rose Mallow is haunted by a chronic aversion to romance that has left her perplexed not by intimacy, but by death. Is she going to be a virgin until she dies? And is intimacy better than loneliness? Her decision to willingly pursue romance with the intention of meeting someone and having sex represents the sad, tragic loss of innocence, not in her virginity, but in her hope for true salvation in love. She realizes that she is never going to be swept off her feet by fate; if she wants love, she will have to accept responsibility and pursue it, knowing that it might not even make her happy.
Bibi, the dog
Bibi is a family member who the family conspires to kill. This brings back themes from "The Premonition," but then, the reader learns that the family isn't killing a person, but a dog. The dilemma changes; first, the reader knew exactly what to think. Why would they kill a person? Now they must ask, Why would they kill a dog? The question of whether animal life is equivalent to human life is horrifying, because the assumption amongst the majority is clearly that humans are worth more. The horror is in the assumption of supremacy.
