Pineapple Street

The house on Pineapple Street is both a setting and a symbol in this novel. The house represents the legacy of the Stockton family and all of their interconnectedness. It is literally identified through their family history because it holds all of their inherited portraits and antiques that connect them to the important Stocktons that came before them. The house represents the Stockton family as well as its need to be modernized and revitalized. Like the antique, dusty nature of the house, the Stocktons are too comfortable with remaining static, even when confronted with the urgent need to adapt with the times. The house is therefore a physical manifestation of the Stocktons’ collective and outdated sense of identity. They resist making the hard decisions about letting go of the more problematic aspects of their past, and so the house represents their commitment to upholding tradition and enshrining the childhood memories of the now adult children that they continue to infantilize. When a fire destroys many of the house’s antiques, the house is rebuilt and can finally represent the family’s attempt to start a new chapter. It’s also notable that the house is on the exclusive Pineapple Street in Brooklyn, which is a highly expensive neighborhood that represents the profound impact of the gentrification that made the Stocktons wealthy in the first place.