Music

Music symbolizes the different childhoods that Ben and Alma had with Julia as their mother. Ben got used to Julia’s music really quickly because she would blare it when they drove around. Her son acclimated to her tastes as she blared music that she enjoyed and that suited her lifestyle. Alma, as a teenager, is annoyed by her mother’s music. This demonstrates that there is a rift between the two of them. Since this particular rift is only about music, it is not serious or relationship threatening, but it demonstrates that Alma sets herself apart from her mother in a way that Ben likely did not. As the novel unfolds, the relationship Julia has with her daughter is shown to be more healthy than the relationship she had with her son in his earlier years because her daughter has more freedom to be herself...