Hibernation
The narrator elucidates, “I had started “hibernating” as best I could in mid-June of 2000…My muscles withered. The sheets on my bed yellowed, although I usually fell asleep in front of the television on the sofa…I didn’t do much in my waking hours besides watch movies.” The hibernation project entails the inactivity of the body. The narrator expends her day sleeping for long so as to be away from the ordinary day-to-day engagements.
Pills
The narrator recounts, “When I needed more pills, I ventured out to the Rite Aid three blocks away. That was always a painful passage.” The narrator absolutely depends on the drugs for they expedite her hibernation by making her sleepy. The compulsion to use more of the drugs is very strong that it motivates her to endure the pain of going for them.
Ping Xi's art as a symbol of cruelty and lack of meaning
At the beginning of the novel, the narrator works at an art gallery. She describes in particular the work of artist Ping Xi. Ping Xi's paintings involve masturbating onto canvases, symbolizing that art is, literally, masturbatory. For another exhibit, he allegedly kills young dogs, taxidermies them, and installs lasers into their eyes. Ping Xi's art underscores the cruelty and lack of meaning that the narrator finds not only in the art world but in society overall.
Narrator's parents' house as a symbol of narrator's relationship with her parents
The narrator returns to visit her parents' empty house after their death. The empty house emotionally resonates with the lack of love and connection that the narrator felt with her parents even while they were still alive. She comments, “But I think I was also holding on to the loss, to the emptiness of the house itself, as though to affirm that it was better to be alone than to be stuck with people who were supposed to love you, yet couldn’t.”
