Her Body and Other Parties

“The ribbon is not a secret; it’s just mine.” 

In the collection’s first story, Machado introduces a protagonist who attempts to exert agency over her own body, to no avail.

“Something is lost between us, and I never find it again.”

This scene marks a turning point in the relationship between the protagonist and the son, but also in the way in which the son learns social norms. Up until this point, the son wants nothing more from his mother than love. However, after seeing his father attempt to exert control over his mother for something that the husband desires, the son learns that he can dominate his mother in the same way. This shift in power dynamics irreversibly changes their bond.

“It is like him to not understand what there is to be afraid of in this world, but I am still furious.”

The protagonist’s husband’s negligence over their son’s safety, and the protagonist’s contrasting concern over it, shows the vastly different experiences of security that men and women feel even in day-to-day life, touching on the story’s theme of male entitlement.