Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses sexual assault and child sexual abuse.

Jessie Burlingame is the protagonist of the novel, and she represents a specific version of the hero archetype. Jessie is characterized as an intelligent, somewhat stubborn person, and her defining trait throughout most of the novel is her ability to repress and suppress memories and emotions as they threaten her delusion of stability. Instances like the women’s consciousness meeting, Ruth’s persistence in questioning Jessie about her father, and her momentary perception that Joubert is her father all lead to Jessie lashing out, running away, or feigning ignorance. These types of avoidance are all designed to protect her from her own trauma. However, because she has avoided confronting her abuse for so long, her emotional stability cracks when Gerald leaves her in a life-or-death situation: handcuffed to a bed and unable to free herself from the ravages of hunger and thirst and the recurring threat of an interloper in the house.

The challenge of understanding and confronting her past trauma proves to be the key to freeing herself from her current predicament, and thus, although the majority of the novel takes place within the same room, Jessie goes on a profound inner journey whose challenges mirror the physical quest that a more stereotypical hero would undertake.