Secrets

The narrative uses various characters to highlight the destructive nature of secrets, the liberation associated with the discovery of secrets, the image building power of secrets, and the need to keep secrets for the sake of privacy and control over one’s life.

Juliet is liberated once Vera learns that Crispin paid for Lorna’s hospital bill. Additionally, he had an affair with Jill and could be Lorna’s father. When Vera asks Juliet about the payment of the bills, Juliet thinks, “So, after all, the family secrets would leak out…Poor Mother. It was such a strain. Perhaps, it’ll be a relief not to have to pretend any more” (138). Later, the revelation of the secret that Crispin asked Harriet to give financial compensation to Lorna gives Juliet strength because her mother no longer has the power she held when she tried “to pretend that...