The echoes of Patty’s childhood traumas reverberate throughout Patina. From taking on the burdens of helping raise her younger sister, to unresolved anger issues that stem from her early experiences, Patty struggles to cope with her past. The narrative is organized in a series of “To Do” lists, which act as a symbol for Patty’s belief that she must be solely responsible for taking care of everything and not need help from others. This belief adds mounting pressure to Patty until she is finally forced to come to terms with her past.

Patty illustrates early in the story how she feels her childhood was taken away from her prematurely: “I was pretty messed up by the whole thing, but doing my best to be strong and brave and big, and all the other things I ain’t really feel like being all the time. I’d rather be sneaking lipstick on in the bathroom, sending Cotton selfies of how fly I look” (70). This feeling of needing to be brave and big for Maddy contributes to the way that Patty pushes down her emotions instead of confronting them or processing them. These sacrifices affect her emotionally: “I couldn’t do none of those things no more.