Rouge: A Novel

Parapraxis is a slip of the tongue. It occurs when someone uses a word other than the one they mean. Also called a Freudian slip, parapraxis is often understood to reveal subconscious thoughts (e.g., accidentally calling a new lover by an ex-lover’s name). Awad uses parapraxis throughout Rouge to characterize the confusion and ominous effects experienced by spa-goers at La Maison de Méduse. When Mira recalls her last conversation with her mother, the main cause of concern is Noelle’s parapraxis. She says “I’m wearing a dread—a dress made of stars” (26). Throughout the novel, parapraxis is almost always the substitution of an innocuous word, like dress, for an ominous one, like dread.

After Mira’s Rouge treatments, parapraxis begins to appear in her first-person narration more and more often. It becomes increasingly ominous and pervasive as the narrative progresses. When she is speaking to Lake as they go toward the dining room, they wonder why they have serving trays if they are the honored guests: “Almost like we’re the severed ones, isn’t that right, Lake? Serving ones, I meant to say” (327). The word choice “severed” is particularly menacing foreshadowing because they are about to learn that the jellyfish are extracted souls severed from their owners’ bodies.