The sexual compatibility between Machado and her girlfriend here, to me, is parallel to the sexual compatibility between Yunior and Miss Lora. Machado is not too keen of her girlfriend, yet she is drawn to her by sex. The same can be said for Yunior—he wants to stop seeing Miss Lora, and is reluctant to see her even, but time and time again, he finds himself back in her apartment because of their sexual compatibility (among other reasons). This makes me realize how significant sex is when it comes to attachment to an individual. There doesn't have to be such an emotional bond or tie to the person for one to engage in sexual intercourse, but simply a common attitude and yearning for sexual desire. I think that this is what blinds Machado in some way and makes it difficult for her to leave the abusive relationship. Same with Yunior in Miss Lora.

At first I was a bit confused at the footnotes marked in these two sentences, these in particular—15."Girl mistakenly elopes with the wrong lover", and 16. "Poets and fools closely allied." Then I thought that she is (probably) utilizing these fairy-tale like thoughts about it being just her and her girlfriend in the Dream House, the two of them together, to lessen the tone of or downplay the abuse that she is facing. In a way, it seems like her annotating this specific experience with motifs from folk literature is creating a dream/dream-like state within the actualized, physical world in which she is in. It heightens the fantasy of her narrative of abuse in her same-sex relationship. The way that she blends both genres delves into the trauma that she faces in her relationship.

Also, the loss of Val in their relationship here further solidifies the relationship between Machado and her girlfriend. There is now no room for anyone else, and I think this may possibly be a catalyst for future abusive behaviors from her, as all of her attention is purely focused on Machado and not on both Val and Machado.

I actually became fascinated about Machado's use of footnotes and her writing style while writing this response, and this article somewhat breaks it down and provides more insight into the way in which she writes: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/in-the-dreamhouse-carmen-maria-machado-review/

Persistently, we see Machado's girlfriend verbally abuse her (again, reflective of the verbal abuse we saw with the girlfriend's father toward her mother). Although it is not physical abuse, the fact that she yells and shouts at her time and time again may take a huge emotional toll on her, and it does here. She's placing blame, albeit unnecessarily, onto her as if she had any role in her anger (which she didn't). By projecting her feelings onto Machado, she is actively transferring feelings of guilt, hurt and fear. We see this when Machado rejects her request to have sex—she's fearful of her girlfriend because she unreasonably lashes out at her. Also, the fact that she even asks her for sex after verbally abusing her is incredibly disturbing. She doesn't even ask— she demands it. This screams "authoritarian" to me. It also shows that she wants to fulfill her own desires and pleasures irregardless of what Machado wants, and points to the depths of abuse in same-sex relationships that are very much concealed in society.

Her girlfriend's abuse is learned behavior. Also, the fact that she "keeps moving, without pause" alludes to how normalized it is and that she has probably seen it more than once before. Machado's girlfriend doesn't see anything wrong with physically hurting someone, and is probably why she did it to Machado earlier on.

This is alarming and points to emotional abuse. Machado's girlfriend has such a stronghold over her.

When I read this part, I was immediately reminded of the worth placed on a person if they do/don't attend college/higher education, especially in today's society. When Machado states "You are nothing" she is implying that having a higher education is what makes you—what gives you value and a sense of esteem in society. Other than devaluing herself in terms of appearance (she mentioned earlier on in the text something about her weight) she is devaluing herself in terms of education.

I really love and admire the imagery implemented by Machado here. Not only does she describe the house as magical, but she goes as far by implementing various physical images to describe it. A "deep pocket of trees" makes me visualize vastness, as well as lush greenery--like a moist, dark forest. The fact that it's all wood and rustic also enables one to think of nature/natural aspects of the world in which we reside in. I also find the set of indoor windows described as "if the house had swallowed a second, tiny" house to be a very distinct description/image of inclusion, of something inside of something larger. It actually reminded me of Matryoshka dolls. The word "dilapidated", meaning run down, makes me envision a house that is old, dirty, tattered. The imagery of the kitchen as covered in shot glasses also gives one the image of a room left littered with half empty red solo cups, one that is dirty and left unclean. And I also love the last bit because that touches upon another sense—smell. There is so much sensory images/imagery provided in this one section and I appreciated reading this one paragraph a lot. It makes the reading more vivid.

Why does it take other people to tell Yunior how bad he is? Does he really not realize some of the toxic behaviors/traits that he has himself? At the age he currently is, and thinking about the numerous times he has done women wrong, it's interesting that now is the time that he's "surprised" at how much of a toxic person he can be.

Yunior and Elvis both do horrible things to women. Yunior is a persistent cheater, and Elvis had a hidden child (who he thought was his) in the Dominican Republic when he was on vacation years ago. However, once a woman moves on and does what's best for them, it's "Fuck all bitches." Why do they expect women to stay with them although they treat them wrong? Why are they so upset with women moving on and doing what's best for them?

For men, it's surprising when women do not want to have sex with them/provide their bodies to them. We can tell this because Elvis "looks a little shocked" at the fact that Noemi doesn't provide her body to Yunior.

This is almost humorous because Noemi is unlike the girls and women that Yunior has been romantically/sexually involved with in the past. Throughout this book, Yunior has been sexually involved with women and rarely romantically. We know that social expectations, as well as cultural ones, supported by the idea of machismo expect boys and men to be sexually active/dominant as well as promiscuous. We see it here again, because Yunior is surprised when Noemi isn't explicitly sexual with him. Actually, this bit reminds me of Miss Lora and how much different Noemi is from her. I think that this bit showcases how Yunior feels when women don't reciprocate sexual energy. He says "A little kissing, a little feeling up, but nothing beyond that" as if he's expecting something more. The fact that she brings her own stuff (pillow, toothbrush) tells us that she is independent and isn't up for attachment, a large contrast from past women like Miss Lora who was very much physically attuned with Yunior. The fact that Yunior finds a problem with this/finds it odd tells us so much about what he expects from women.

A woman who Díaz dated, lawyer Elizabeth de Leon, inspired this character! (https://nypost.com/2014/09/22/mark-viverito-staffer-inspired-pulitzer-prize-winning-author/) We constantly see reflections of Díaz's real life in this text.

This theme of loss follows us all throughout this text—Yunior is so used to losing people, and people being absent in his life, that he "doesn't even bother finishing" reading Paloma's "moving on" letter and realizes how hopeless it is to chase after her. Loss is the norm for Yunior and I think that this is a clear reason for his lack of care about various aspects of his life.

Yunior is the main character in this text, yet his mother's grief seems to be a main theme throughout most of the chapters in this text that is imperative to take notice to. When Yunior says "now she is somewhere else" this signifies that his mother has changed significantly and she is not mentally/emotionally/ psychologically keen or stable as she was in her past. I think that this has so much to do with her social status as well as her family dynamic. Her children's father is absent, her son Rafa died of cancer, and her son Yunior disregards her existence and position as an elder figure in his life, often mistreating her and ignoring all that she does and provides for him. Her grief also "takes all her time." Yunior's mother does not have time to happily enjoy aspects of her life because she has experienced a plethora of negative life circumstances. I often wonder why Yunior constantly narrates about his mother's sadness yet does nothing to comfort or sympathize with her.

We see Yunior continuously disrespect his mother and ignore her wishes. Although he is a teenager and has autonomy over his own actions, his blatant disregard of his mother seems really unsettling. I think that we can see this being a result of his older brother's influence (Rafa treated his mother similarly) as well as his father's absence. Without any elder figure to model respect for his mother, Yunior always seems to disrespect her as well as treats her as an invisible, minuscule and insignificant figure. As we see here, Yunior favors/values his own goals/objectives over his mother's.

Here (yet again) we see Yunior mentioning the body and build of women, this time with Miss Lora. Although she is an older woman, he does not fail to analyze different parts of her body. To me, Yunior seems to have an obsession with women's physical build and their body type. So far in this novel, almost every woman has been described in a sexual manner, often with references to their breasts and butts.

Having a child is often an important societal marker for identifying women or giving them a sense of worth. Without bearing a child, a woman is often looked at as abnormal/anomalous. Something must be wrong with her if she does not adhere to this social standard/expectation, as Yunior's mother alludes here.

Women are continuously degraded and shamed in this narrative, especially by Yunior, but it takes a turn in this chapter with Yunior's mother and her "Horseface" companions. They call Pura "prieta", which means dark-skinned, or black, as well as "fea" which means ugly, say she "dejó un hijo" meaning she left her son, that she "tiene otro aquí", or has another here, and that she "no tiene hombre" meaning that she does not have a man. Calling her ugly and dark without any provocation or mentioning that she left her son without understanding her circumstances make these women simply look like haters. It's odd to see these older women speaking negatively on Pura, especially the "Horsefaces" because they do not have direct contact with her nor do they have a relationship with her. Also, by mentioning that Pura does not have a man, why does that matter? Why is a woman's worth almost always tied to a man? They also state that Pura doesn't have money nor does she have papers. These trivial things that Yunior's mother and her friends decide to pick Pura apart point to insecurities that they may have, and the prevalence of belittling and undervaluing of women of color. An underlying theme here is the devaluing of the women.

Yunior always seems to comment on or mention a woman's body type/her appearance, often times in a sexual manner. He doesn't leave much room for describing women based on their personality, but that's understandably because he doesn't know much about them past their appearance. Even so, it's still odd that he almost always says something sexual about the girls in these narratives.