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The appearance of the perfect family is often a facade.

The conventional and successful lifestyle that the Traverses embody does not change their lived reality of trauma and mental illness, despite the family’s collective head-in-sand approach. Mrs. Travers and Neil are not “fixed” by an easier life, and they are also not served by the illusion that they fit perfectly into their new circumstances, which don’t leave room for their distressing emotions. Mr. Travers naively believes providing for his wife and building her a house will heal her from the trauma of her first husband’s suicide. Neil is a doctor and a father, so the family does not openly discuss his mental health struggles and alcoholism, going as far as to dismiss his wife’s clear unhappiness entirely. When speaking about Mrs. Travers’ first husband’s suicide, Maury says that he was unstable. A simple, dismissive explanation makes it sound as if there was something inherently wrong in his nature. Likewise, Maury describes his mother as possibly having “womanly problems” instead of thinking more critically about what could be done to help her. Neil’s mental health struggles and alcoholism are frequently glossed over, and he never receives the support he needs to heal. Moreover, his actions have significant negative repercussions for his wife and children, which are brushed under the rug. At the story’s climax, Grace’s eyes are finally opened to the reality that there is no room in the Travers family for complex, negative emotions.

Suppressed emotions inevitably come to the surface. 

Throughout the story, Grace struggles with her commitment to Maury and what he represents for her future. Grace’s actions often conflict with her internal voice, and she finds herself passively accepting becoming Maury’s girlfriend and possibly fiancée even though she knows that Maury doesn’t truly understand her. Ironically, Maury is sure his idealized version of Grace is accurate, and thus he is disturbed by her willingness to explore her sexuality with him. When Grace finally meets Neil, it awakens the parts of her that are suppressed around Maury. Grace’s reckless choice to accompany Neil on his booze run represents her hunger to give in to desire and individualism, although she doesn’t fully understand her actions in the moment. Ultimately, Grace chooses to walk away from the Traverses, not out of a sense of superiority, but because she clearly sees the damage the suppression of emotions could have on her future.

Neil and Mrs. Travers both attempt to suppress their suffering, but they are eventually overwhelmed by the depth of their emotions. Neil’s drinking is a clear example of the attempt to mute and medicate unwanted feelings, and the result is his suffering is exacerbated, and his family is left neglected. Similarly, Mrs. Travers puts on a happy face until her pain inevitably bubbles to the surface, and she is temporarily hospitalized and pumped full of drugs rather than allowed to explore her emotions in a healthy way. Any uncomfortable or inconvenient emotion is dismissed and minimized, and thus the pressure of their struggles is directed further inward. People who do express what they feel, such as Mavis, are considered to be disruptive to the delicate social interactions at play around them. Ironically, by suppressing their emotions, Neil and Mrs. Travers basically ensure that when they do come to the surface they are extremely disruptive and the entire family suffers as a result. 

Brief encounters can be life-changing. 

The brief summer Grace spends in the company of the Travers family and the even briefer afternoon she spends with Neil have a permanent impact on the course of her life. Even though more than forty years have gone by, Grace returns to the Traverses’ lakeside home to make sense of their effect on her life. At first, the Traverses offer Grace a glimpse into the lives of the educated and affluent, something she aspires to be. Mrs. Travers in particular draws Grace into the family’s orbit because Grace admires how she embraces motherhood while not allowing it to erase her intellect or wit. Grace also admires the family’s noisy and affectionate interactions because they are so different from her own home life and represent a possible future she hadn’t considered. Similarly, the darker aspects of the family shape Grace’s understanding of what she doesn’t want for her future, and that lesson allows her to walk away in the end.    

Despite the short amount of time that Grace spends with Neil, he has more of an effect on the rest of her life than Maury or the rest of the Travers family. Grace only knows Neil for about ten minutes before she agrees to leave with him, and she only knows him for one afternoon before she decides she won’t return to Maury. The afternoon with Neil allows her to recognize truths about herself that she can no longer deny. The tragedy of Neil’s death and its aftermath, while not Grace’s fault, clearly cement the afternoon permanently in her mind. If she had never spent that afternoon with Neil, Grace might have married Maury after all, or she might have simply broken up with him without receiving the money from Mr. Travers that allowed her to start her life.

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