Kill for Me, Kill for You

During her years in the psychiatric center, Ruth uses a calming technique in which she locks her fears and anxieties in an “old oak chest” in her mind (270). Although the oak chest is intended as a tool to support Ruth’s healing from the trauma of her attack, it ultimately becomes a symbol of The Lasting Effects of Traumatic Experiences. Dr. Marin encourages Ruth to imagine putting her memories of the attack and Mr. Blue Eyes in the oak chest, insisting that they “won’t be able to hurt you and they will never be able to leave that box again” (269). For Dr. Marin, the oak chest is a way of containing Ruth’s trauma as she heals. Ruth, however, imagines the chest as a place to contain her murderous rage. When she sees the blue-eyed Granger family at the hotel and believes they are taunting her, Ruth hears “metal being torn asunder, wood splintering, and the whine of heavy brass hinges” (285) as the oak chest in her mind explodes open. Freed from the restraints of her treatment at the center, Ruth feels a violent impulse to kill the Granger family. Ruth’s mental destruction of the oak chest draws a connection between her own trauma and her subsequent, violent impulses in Cavanagh’s