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“The next photo was a close-up of a shop window. Inside the window glowed a pink neon sign spelling out the word warm in lowercase letters. The glowing word took up most of the frame: it was impossible to tell what sort of store it was.”

The lack of context in Ivy’s Instagram post is confusing to her dad, which symbolizes how disconnected he feels. He doesn’t know what store is pictured, and the aesthetic details that attract Ivy are lost on him. He knows he is supposed to derive meaning from these photos, but he cannot figure out what the meaning is.

“It made a kind of music, the wheel spinning and her talking.”

Dave is sitting in the waiting room listening to his daughter engage in vibrant conversation with her physical therapist. He feels disconnected, wondering why his daughter, who was so silent in the car, is now so animated. This disconnection is symbolized by the closed door between the waiting room and the therapy room. On the other hand, his daughter’s speech is like music to him. This shows that Dave—despite his anxiety—wants happiness for his daughter.

“‘You’re making me feel like I talk too much!’ she whispered furiously, deep in her own embarrassment.”

This is Ivy’s response to her father’s compliment about her interaction with the physical therapist. Although Dave’s comment is supposed to be complimentary, she feels criticized, encapsulating the self-consciousness that is common in adolescence. Her embarrassment stems from the feeling of being watched or singled out, another adolescent experience.

“Sometimes his daughter’s quietness in the car felt blank and mysterious; but some days it felt excruciatingly full, like an inflamed organ about to burst.”

Here, the dad uses a simile to describe his daughter’s bad days, comparing her sad silence to a medical emergency. While he and his daughter struggle to connect, he viscerally feels her emotional pain. His need for connection is all-consuming. It is not something he can let go of.

“Marooned on one side of the island, he wondered, not for the first time, if open concept was such a great thing after all.”

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum uses a pun here, comparing the kitchen island to a desert island to illustrate Dave’s alienation from his daughter. He feels shipwrecked, alone in the middle of the open-concept sea of his home. Dave notes the irony of the open floorplan, designed to facilitate conversation, but Ivy won’t talk to him. Instead, the open-concept home gives him a full view of his daughter ignoring him.

“He wanted to share a commiserating look with Dorothy, but she was still watching the screen, sawing her little pendant back and forth on its chain.”

In this scene, Dorothy is so engrossed in the debate on television that she doesn’t appear to notice Ivy’s dramatic departure. Her anxiety is clear through her actions, the verb “sawing” loading her absentminded movements with negative emotion. Dave wants to share an eye roll with his wife, but she is also unavailable. While Dave feels emotionally isolated from Ivy, this is one example that hints Dorothy understands their daughter more.

“To his surprise, he had trouble recalling his thoughts and emotions from sixth grade. Surprising, because he remembered the fact of having felt things; it was at the point at which his parents took to calling him Heathcliff.”

Heathcliff is a major character in Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights known for his extreme emotions. As such, Dave’s parents use this allusion to identify his adolescent emotional dysregulation. This work of classical literature is a different kind of cultural touchstone in the text—Ivy engages with more contemporary media—but it’s unclear whether this is Dave’s reference or his parents, one that he might have found dated or alienating as a child. These reflections create parallels between him and his daughter.

“Election coverage continued unchecked in the background.”

This quote has multiple meanings. Most obviously, it represents the action of the scene: Ivy gets in the car after school, upset and unwilling to talk, and doesn’t even attempt to change the channel on the radio station. Therefore, the election coverage continues without acknowledgment, or “unchecked.” Additionally, the quote references the 2016 election, which was polarizing and dominated by “unchecked” vitriol. Finally, this quote represents the election’s place in the story—the way it sits in the background creating angst for the characters, who do not have any power over it. In that way, the election is also “unchecked” as a source of conflict.

“He felt good about humanity in general. Basic decency would prevail, and this exhausting insane election season would soon be over, and by tomorrow he could commit his energies fully to planning the Thanksgiving menu.”

This quote illustrates the effect of the election on Dave’s mental health. The antagonism of the past few months has taken its toll, yet because he connects with Ivy’s physical therapist about voting, he is feeling positive. He has begun to believe that the election will go his way and the vitriol of the season will fade into the past. The parallels between Dave’s anxiety about Ivy and his unease about the election expand the story’s impact outward, positing that parental alienation from adolescent children is a universal experience rather than a deficiency on Dave’s part.

“There was something about being suddenly swaddled in darkness that made each of her clicks seem slightly louder than the one before, as if the source of the sound were coming, very slowly, closer.”

As Dorothy becomes further engrossed in Ivy’s online activities, Dave tries to continue sleeping. He pulls a mask down over his eyes, making the outside world disappear. However, Dorothy’s strokes on the keyboard make a clicking sound that seems to get louder and louder. This symbolizes how problems can’t be fixed by ignoring them.

“He blinked angrily. Dorothy had downloaded the app only a week ago.”

Here, Dorothy identifies the unifying aesthetic elements of Ivy’s Instagram that Dave missed. He has been so attentive to these posts, and yet, he has not noticed the points that Dorothy has so effortlessly pointed out. Dave’s anger illustrates the depth of his concern. It also points to his anxiety. He already feels like he is losing Ivy to a world he doesn’t understand, so his wife’s quick study makes him feel incompetent.

“And, in the silence afterward, he felt her chest rising and falling rapidly against his outstretched arm.”

This event takes place in the immediate aftermath of the car accident. Unlike Ivy’s previous car silences that brought him so much consternation, the quiet here is reassuring. He doesn’t focus on the lack of conversation; he focuses on her heartbeat—the fact that she is alive. In this moment of crisis, he acts instinctively, reaching out to protect his daughter. In so doing, he connects with her in an organic way.

“Somehow she had managed to convey through her body precisely what he’d been feeling since November: not crushed, not flattened, but flung, as if from an obliterating blast, against a hard, exposing surface. Spread, embarrassed, suspended, without the strength to open his eyes and survey the damage.”

When Ivy contorts her body into a strange configuration against the window, Dave realizes that she has been experiencing the same emotions he has. Both of them have felt disconnected, misunderstood, and powerless. Dave’s epiphany fortifies him and provides the energy he needs to attempt to connect with her. Notably, this connection comes through her language—the language of dance—rather than conversation.