Home (Symbol)
Home is traditionally associated with safety, protection and family warmth. Although, the protagonist doesn’t think that her childhood was really happy, she seeks salvation in her family home nevertheless. “Going home” or “finally going home” means at least a short period of rest from the wrecked world. Policemen, “tired” judges, victims of robbery or victims of sexual assaults and many others mentioned in this story hurry up “home” to recover from all horrors and disappointments of the outside world.
Rape (allegory)
Rape is an allegory of death. For protagonist, that sexual assault becomes a turning point. She can’t identify herself in this world anymore. She describes herself as “changed, bloodied, damaged goods, ruined”. However, later on she comes to a conclusion that rape is “a death-and-rebirth phenomenon”. When someone is raped, the old self of that person dies and then a process of rebirth should follow.
Not an ideal life (motif)
This story is not only about sexual assaults. This is about a life itself, just as it is. There is an unhappy marriage, where a mother starts drinking and has to deal with “alcoholism”, a father spends a half of a year abroad and children are not exactly close. It is about loneliness, a depression after your major is “not transferring into the job”, drug addiction and a lot of other problems. This novel is also about power of a human’s will and his/her ability to overcome the worst struggles. A life with all its problems and difficulties is the main motif.
