The Kauffman Household

Their childhood home is the place where Jo and Bethie Kauffman form their dreams of whom they would like to become. They return to the house throughout their adulthood. Whenever they fail to achieve personal and professional goals, they flee the house, as though they are fleeing the memory of the childhood selves who formed those goals. When Bethie returns to the house to give her late sister, Jo's, children and grandchildren a tour, Bethie is no longer dissatisfied with the course of her life. She sees the house as a symbolic reminder of all of the happy memories she made there.

Suburban Neighborhoods

There are many suburban neighborhoods in this book, and each one excludes residents based on religion, race, or class. The Kauffmans moved to their neighborhood because, though it is not predominantly Jewish, lower middle class, suburban whites, like the Kauffmans, are displacing...