Week 3

"We realized that the version of the world they rendered for us was not the world they really believed in, and that for all their care taking and bitching about crabgrass they didn't give a damn about lawns." (pg 55) 

This passage from the novel represents a potential theme. The narrator is in his teenager years and based on this section, has been told since childhood that life would be free of hardships. After witnessing Cecilia's death and having to cope, he has realized that his parents and society have created a vision of the world that does not exist. The idea that the negatives in life are hidden beneath false happiness has been a motif. Cecilia had always come off as a happy girl but deep down she was yearning for a better life, and could not bear to live the one she was leading. Lawns is an example of something that people in society don't care about, but pretend to care about to hide the emotions they are truly feeling.