Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of domestic abuse.

“Their mam is silent, but it’s not silence with peace in it. It takes up space, like some heavy thing made of rusted iron built around her. Lena Dunne […] says her mam used to be a talker, and a laugher too. Trey doesn’t disbelieve her, exactly, but she finds the image inaccessible.”

Trey describes the smothering silence of Sheila with a metaphor, comparing it to a cage around her and her children. Sheila’s demeanor seems so palpable to Trey and so ingrained into her mother’s identity that she can hardly remember a time when Sheila was different. The weight of Sheila’s experiences has affected her so much that she cannot push through the silence to show happiness to her children. This demonstrates how the consequences of Johnny’s past actions and abuse impact more than just himself.

“She feels like she needs to be ready, just in case. The feeling is familiar and strange at the same time. Trey is good at noticing things outside herself but uninterested in noticing things inside, so it takes her a while to recognize that this is the way she felt most of the time, up until a couple of years ago and Cal and Lena. It faded away so gradually that she forgot it, till now.”

Johnny’s return destabilizes Trey’s emotions. Since Cal came into her life, she realizes that she has begun to find emotional stability; however, Johnny resurrects Trey’s resentment. This quote shows Trey’s difficulty in identifying her feelings, even though she has a perceptiveness in understanding others’, and illustrates how the resurfacing of an abuser can trigger old memories or emotions.

“When I was a young fella, people woulda broke their hearts laughing at that. They’d have said you were wasting your time teaching a girl, when she oughta be learning to cook a roast dinner.”

French highlights Johnny’s accent in this quote as a central aspect of his identity. Despite feeling and acting like he’s different from the other men in town, Johnny still reinforces Ardnakelty’s gender norms because he does not understand why Trey wants to pursue carpentry. This reveals how little Johnny understands Trey because he does not take the time to get to know her; rather, he mindlessly assigns gendered activities to her.