Bella’s Book Collection

Bella's collection of books, and particularly her beloved first editions, represent and embody her thematically central experience of living life defined by literature. They are also, in a sense, evocative of the play's thematic interest in loneliness, in that her love for books is also a cause and a consequence of her experience of isolation.

Bella's Favorite Books

Bella's two favorite books - Crime and Punishment and Light Years - represent the means through which she makes her connections with Christopher. Their shared admiration for the books is a prime component of their experience of reaching for each other and finding their way to a kind of friendship, as ethically inappropriate as it actually is.

Bella’s Cancer

Bella's cancer functions as both a metaphor for, and manifestation of, her thematically significant loneliness and fear. It is also directly connected to her thematically...