One thing to note about the house is when Dawn and her children move in, their section of the house is on unsteady foundation (made up of mostly trees). I believe this part of the house (where they sleep and what not) represents Dawn’s mental stage in rejecting the grieving process. From the small classroom, you first go to Milton’s “castle”. While he is missing (fate is undetermined), his bedroom is actually the most stable part of their home (minus the main part of the house Edie resides in). Lewis’s room is made of a boat. Dawn’s inability to cope with her feelings a grief and tendency to blame Edie prevents Edith and Lewis from working through their own issues with their missing brother. In the process of trying to help Lewis avoid substance abuse, she failed to recognize what he truly needed: talking about Milton and being allowed to remember him. By giving him a tedious job, he lost motivation for living. Also, note that Edith and Dawn live in the most unstable part of the house, above Lewis. After his death, Dawn crashes down metaphorically and decides Edith and her need to leave quickly before her youngest child is corrupted by Edie’s stories. By not having a healthy way of completely grieving, the sickness (you could substitute it as stress) overtook her. As for Edith being on the very top: while she ends up being the happy medium in the end, her mother held on to the end before allowing her to search for answers; consider that Edith would not have gone to the house and climbed all over the house at 5 and 1/2 months pregnant. This is not to say Dawn is all the blame, some of her actions did effect Lewis and Edith in the long run.
Excellent analysis. You're totally right about the foundation. Dawn's decisions (unsurprisingly) definitely affected her kids. (Though, relatedly, Edie's actions, and Sam's actions, affected Dawn, causing her to react this way.)
@@caitsithplays Without a doubt. By her deciding to do things differently from her dad and grandma, she went to the opposite extreme (which didn’t fix anything either).
It always confused me how she acts as if a weight has been lifted from her but it seems so unnatural when she refers to the house as a monster on the walk to the house. What are your thoughts on this?
One thing to note about the house is when Dawn and her children move in, their section of the house is on unsteady foundation (made up of mostly trees). I believe this part of the house (where they sleep and what not) represents Dawn’s mental stage in rejecting the grieving process.
From the small classroom, you first go to Milton’s “castle”. While he is missing (fate is undetermined), his bedroom is actually the most stable part of their home (minus the main part of the house Edie resides in).
Lewis’s room is made of a boat. Dawn’s inability to cope with her feelings a grief and tendency to blame Edie prevents Edith and Lewis from working through their own issues with their missing brother. In the process of trying to help Lewis avoid substance abuse, she failed to recognize what he truly needed: talking about Milton and being allowed to remember him. By giving him a tedious job, he lost motivation for living.
Also, note that Edith and Dawn live in the most unstable part of the house, above Lewis. After his death, Dawn crashes down metaphorically and decides Edith and her need to leave quickly before her youngest child is corrupted by Edie’s stories. By not having a healthy way of completely grieving, the sickness (you could substitute it as stress) overtook her.
As for Edith being on the very top: while she ends up being the happy medium in the end, her mother held on to the end before allowing her to search for answers; consider that Edith would not have gone to the house and climbed all over the house at 5 and 1/2 months pregnant.
This is not to say Dawn is all the blame, some of her actions did effect Lewis and Edith in the long run.
Excellent analysis. You're totally right about the foundation.
Dawn's decisions (unsurprisingly) definitely affected her kids. (Though, relatedly, Edie's actions, and Sam's actions, affected Dawn, causing her to react this way.)
@@caitsithplays Without a doubt. By her deciding to do things differently from her dad and grandma, she went to the opposite extreme (which didn’t fix anything either).
@@Ozzygirl17 agreed!
It always confused me how she acts as if a weight has been lifted from her but it seems so unnatural when she refers to the house as a monster on the walk to the house. What are your thoughts on this?
That's an interesting point. Let me think on this and get back to you. (But I want you to know I saw this, and I love this comment.)