The novel captures Gerald’s journey from his childhood experience with abuse to his present-day coping strategies in a household that continues to excuse abusive behavior and exercise codependent dynamics. The chief antagonist is Tasha, who has been “drowning [Gerald and Lisi] in plain view” (125) since they were young. She has also suffocated her siblings using the “pillow trick” (247), where she would take couch pillows and press them over her siblings’ faces until they nearly lose consciousness. While everyone in the household witnesses this, Gerald’s mother refuses to punish Tasha and blames Gerald. This creates longstanding doubt and resentment for Gerald about his own experiences. His anger as a teenager becomes a way of coping with having to still encounter this dynamic in his household.

Gerald’s family is a model of different ways in which family members cope with proximity to abuse. Lisi, who is also a victim of Tasha’s abuse and is Gerald’s one ally in the house, decided to leave as soon as she was able. Witnessing his mother’s disapproval of Lisi’s plans to go to college, Gerald realizes that his mother wants to keep his sister at home so that she will not be more successful than Tasha.