Loneliness

Throughout the stories collected in Evening in Paradise, the author uses a range of narrative vantages and structures to explore loneliness as a fundamental facet of the human existence. In "Andado: A Gothic Romance," 14-year-old Laura, struggles to balance the adult responsibilities her family expects of her with her adolescent journey towards self-discovery. Though she is only a teenager, Laura has assumed her mother's role. Because her mother spends most of her time in bed, depressed and drinking, Laura's father expects her to fulfill her mother's duties. Therefore, when Laura takes a four-day trip to the Ibañez-Grey estate, she is unsure how to navigate Don Andrés's inappropriate sexual advances. While on the train with Don Andrés, the narrator says, "She didn't react to such intimacies, as she would have with any other man. She was simply enveloped...When she grew older she would...