The novel "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of what happened to a family prior to and following the rape of Marianne, the daughter, by a school acquaintance, Zachary Lundt. In addition to Marianne, the Mulvaney family consists of the father, Michael Sr., the mother, Corinne, and three sons, Michael Jr., Patrick, and Judd, the narrator. Michael Sr. works in the nearby town of Mt. Ephraim, New York, and runs a small roofing business. The family lives on an isolated farm in rural, upstate New York. The farm plays a vital role in the life of the family as it serves as the setting of the family's "perfect" life before the tragedy that befell Marianne. Oates seems to be making a larger statement about the American family farm, which has been slowly unraveling because of outside forces it has not been able to...