These words remind me of skintones and how these words are used to describe people of color.

Ivory soap, ivory is also white.

Maison Blanche - White house

Reproach - the expression of disapproval or disappointment.

At this point, it seems the narrator is still thinking about herself and her enjoyment. She doesn't suggest that maybe her daughter is not that into searching for antiques or maybe the narrator can spend time with her daughter another way that they both enjoy.

I find it interesting this line is written twice. It brings up images of a frantic mother turning this way and that way, searching every where for her lost child.

Perhaps her daughter was not interested in antiques or accompanying her mom to junk sales and antique fairs.

The narrator is filled with regret as she looks back on her life and on her role as a mother. As she hunted for beautiful antiques on Sundays, she didn't notice her own daughter's beautiful innocent nature that one day would also end and become a type of history.

Caustic - Sarcastic in a scathing and bitter way.

The word endings standing alone is really powerful. Her daughter has moved on to another stage in her life, ending this chapter. Her daughter's childhood has become a history itself.

Her daughter has red hair so she physically stands out even when she is on the other side of the room. However in the next line, "which was not often-", the narrator suggests even though her daughter stood out, she was stil oblivious to her presence.

Sasha seems very concerned about pleasing people. She doesn't understand the therapist just wants her to get better and she will get better at her own pace. But at least this time, she didn't lie or try to make the situation any better. She simply told the truth and admitted the pain she was feeling.

Wow, she really does feel incredibly empty. Stealing, men, sex...none of it fulfills her.

So Sasha is prideful of having taken these objects.

Does Sasha relive her thefts through these tokens? Does she get to experience the rush and adrenalin, the exhiliration all over again when she looks at these objects? She has them displayed in her home on a table in a small apartment in New York where every nook and cranny is valuable. She is clearly not ashamed of anyone seeing these objects, maybe she is even proud of them.

Xanax is a medication for anxiety and panic disorder. Interacting with her victim makes her anxious enough to want to reach for her anxiety medication.

Faced by her victim's desperation and vulnerability, Sasha finally sees the pain she has caused and she flinches.

Blithe - showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper.

Did Sasha really expect the owner of the wallet to be indifferent to her loss of her money, credit cards, identification i.e. license? She is suprised by the vulnerability of her victim? She really is out of touch. I don't think she has fully grasped the pain she causes by her actions.

This particular woman also has gray hair mixed in with her brown hair. She is an older woman. The plumber was an older man yet she pitied him.

They are not writing any kind of story. They are simply trying to resolve a problem.

So she doesn't really need the money either. She stole the woman's wallet while she was on a date.

That's an odd way to describe deodorant. Is she some type of an enviornmentalist where she is describing the chemicals as toxic?

This is further proof for my theory that she steals for the sheer rush rather than the value of the objects she steals. There is no point behind stealing twenty-eight bars of soap, keys, cheese grater or pens. I think maybe she has some type of a compulsion that 'forces' her to steal because she cant control her behavior and is in therapy for it.

She is making up excuses to justify her behavior although she is keenly aware herself that she is rationalizing her behavior. She also appears to get a thrill out of stealing and getting away with it. Maybe the adrenalin rush is her real motivation to steal rather than the money inside the wallet.

Pam feels uncomfortable watching the process of the SGs being hoisted up by the doctor. It reminds me of a cable guy coming in for a new installation. I wonder what the process actually looks like. The SGs already had the microline strung through them so I suppose the more grusome part of the process was already over.

I wonder how old these girls actually are. Even in the title, Saunders referred to SGs as "girls" rather than "women". However, even the narrator remarks on how young these SGs are which makes me wonder if they are teenage girls or older women in their 20s.

It appears that being an SG is a better alternative to being a prostitute.

This guy spent $7400 of his 10k lottery win on women that would decorate his yard! He is so financially irresponsible!

Chintzy - miserly, stingy, cheap.

It seems SGs are women that are somehow put asleep or are comatose. These women do not have any will power or agency anymore and do as they are told. Although these women do choose to become SGs due to unfortunate circumstances.

a feeling or impression that something is about to happen, especially something evil; foreboding.

It's interesting that the word presentiment relates to something terrible happening yet the narrator uses the word in the context of achieving his potential. Is this possible foreshadowing? Is something terrible going to happen to the narrator and his family?

What a fantasy this guy cooks up...

Okay, so SGs are clearly human beings. They need to be given food, water and allowed to use the restrooms. But Greenway, the company that made the yard beautiful services the SGs three times a day. This is really bizarre. It reminds me of prostitution.

Are SGs some kind of controversial human slaves that make yards look pretty? Are they women in desperate situations?

Paucity - smallness of quantity, scarcity, scantiness.

Largesse - general bestowal of gifts.

What is an SG? It has been mentioned twice now.

Emmett is extremely rude and condescending. He doesn't even attempt to withhold his disdain of narrator's employment yet the narrator is not bothered by his comment. He actually wants to send him a card and strike a friendship with him.

Preakness - a horse race for three-year-olds run annually two weeks after the Kentucky Derby.

Narrator is a man.

This person speaks so poorly yet he or she graduated from college and is even entitled to refer to him/herself as sophisticated. The narrative doesn't mirror that of an educated person.

• French word - means out of date, outmoded. Ex: I thought hand-cranked pencil sharpeners were passé. --Dictionary.com

Why does this person speak this way? The person speaks poorly, like a child or someone whose native tongue isn't English.

I am a bit uncertain about this piece of evidence. This document was written by white women. Although I don't know the details of the lifestyle a white woman would have had versus that of say an African American man, I feel pretty confident in saying that the Caucasian women probably had a better quality of life and more opportunities.

This reminded of one of the main complaints of the colonists towards the King of England when he increased their taxes. They said something very similar such as, how can the king increase taxes on a people who have no form of representation in his government.

The privilege or right of voting in an election of public officers.

He is actually getting arrogant about getting away with his wife's murder! There is so no sense of regret or remorse. He even baits the police officer as they are turning around and going back up the steps by rapping on the wall where he entombed his wife and remarking about the construction of the house.

Although, it is very obvious that the narrator's mental state is spiraling out of control, he was lucid enough to come up with numerous options to conceal the body, think about the pros and cons of each option and then sufficiently execute a plan to hide the body.

So while he didn't premeditate his wife's murder, there is enough evidence in his subsequent actions to suggest that he is sane enough to take responsibility for her murder.

It seems like the narrator is recounting his crimes and what happened to him from prison.

This is the strangest, oddest and outlandish rational for the appearance of this cat's image on his bedroom wall. At this point, he would say or do anything to give himself some sense of normality or sensibility.

Is alcohol really blame for this dramatic change in personality? I think the narrator is using the alcohol as an excuse. If anything, the alcohol brought out what was already part of his personality and character even though it may have been initially dormant for a long time.

The narrator's relationship with his wife is fast deteriorating. He even begins to beat his wife.

Something that is light, thin or insubstantial and delicate. The narrator means to say that animals display a greater sense of loyalty and faith in their owners than men do in their friendships with each other.

I am a bit confused about the meaning of these two words. Does anyone know or understand what it means?