Content Warning: This section discusses anti-gay bias and the Holocaust.

“The best way to handle Daddy was to pretend I was sorry, then go back to doing whatever I wanted to when he wasn’t looking.”

Marilyn’s tactic of pretending remorse while continuing her behavior shows her characterization, revealing her rebellious nature and the façade she maintains to avoid conflict with her father. In this quote, the author demonstrates her flippant attitude to values like Family and Duty. This characterization sets up tension between herself and Walter and creates further conflict when Marilyn realizes that she is no longer able to fool her father or get what she wants.

“Daddy always said my writing was a waste of time—he wanted me to learn to cook and keep a house and become a good little wife. But Mama encouraged it. She was the one who pushed for me to go to college too. Every spare moment, she could be found with a book in hand, often even while standing at the kitchen counter stirring a pot.”

This passage contrasts Marilyn’s parents to establish the internal tension in the Kleinman household. Walter’s more traditional expectations clash with Rose’s support for Marilyn’s intellectual pursuits. Walter’s expectation that she get married and become a housewife stifles Marilyn, while Rose offers her an escape; writing becomes the vehicle through which Marilyn may be able to free herself.

“‘Why didn’t you ever get married?’

She reopened the newspaper and held it up in front of her face. ‘Because there were no matchmakers as good as me when I was young.’”

Ada’s use of the newspaper as a shield symbolizes her hesitancy to reveal her personal life with Marilyn, foreshadowing the truth about her relationship with Lillian. She uses the newspaper to hide behind the fact that she is Living a Nontraditional Life, despite also being a respected figure in the community through her matchmaking business.