Reading this felt like a whisper, I actively heard Machado whisper to me as she is in a deep panic of her surroundings. In this scene, she is talking to herself while also trying to communicate with the reader. This passage makes me just as helpless as she does throughout her whole situation. The creativity that exudes out of Machado with these fragmented yet linear thoughts blew me away. Another example of how her trauma manifested itself in her writing and even in her dreams. The last line hit the hardest as she is trying not to forget like a scene in Memento, and yet she falls in the same cycle of waking up and hating every minute of her time with her partner. The little emblem of hope shimmers ever so slightly here as she actively says, "There's a way out" before waking up and letting her of these thoughts. Even as she is trying to speak, she is cut off from her thought process and reverts to her relationship pattern of pain and destruction.

It's almost as if whatever she wants, she gets, and the narrator has to go along with it. There is no choice or decision that the narrator gets to decide but rather it's all up to her and what the dream house has in store for her. The title also refers to the study of insects, which is interesting; maybe it has something to do with being monogamous. The narrator feels trapped yet content with her status and how the dream house has been built around them. The dream house contains many layers, either by choice or obligation. "But I don't want to share you with anyone" also feels like an act of possession as if she is a girl with a doll using it as she wishes.

Her truth is that "who knows your name can break you in two," which can be interpreted to, who knows who you are can break you easily. Those who know my secrets and my weaknesses can easily break me down with the mention of my name or the personalized actions they take against me. This type of pain is deep and very personal that only someone close to you can cause. The dream house is a fragile depiction of a world she created, and only one who has the key and knows of the house's weaknesses can break in and destroy it. Even how someone significant can say your name in a tone that is no longer loving and with care can break you in seconds. Hate from a stranger and hostility from a lover/a personal friend is two entirely different types of pain. One action can be forgotten, but the other can break you in two.

Yunior always swears he wouldn't cheat on his girlfriends until they catch them, and it was there all along. It is as if Yunior wants to get caught or wants to destroy what little good he has in his life that pertains to love. Throughout these chapters, Yunior always defends himself first and sounds very convincing. The readers feel as though they are the women that he is trying to lie to, and afterward, he offers the evidence of his betrayal. Yunior describes his relationships of cheating as sudden sparks of miracles and how it comes out of thin air, but even he can't convince himself of that, and so he blames it on other factors in his life. Only after he is caught, that is when he understands that he lost the best thing in his life and tries his hardest to keep his relationship perfect. It almost feels like an act or fake when he tries his hardest because it's all due to cheating, and she wouldn't forget something like that so quickly... I don't think anyone would. In Yunior's mind, he believes his niceness would make up for the cheating and even views himself as a worthy guy who kept trying, but in reality, it just makes him sleazy and untrustworthy.

Yunior realizes that the cycle just keeps going and that even though he watched all of the men in his life end up the way they did, with nothing to say for themselves, he realizes he will die the same way. In a way, Yunior wished the gene had missed him but it also feel like a realization that it could have never missed him because he was destined to become this way. It also feels although Yunior is reflecting on his destiny from his father and his brother. Similar to the beginning of the book, he writes that he isn't a bad guy but its the circumstance that made these actions comfortable for him from watching his dad and his brother.

Yunior’s first memories in the United States are ones of containment and experiencing his parents, especially his mom, struggle through living in a new environment. Their mom encounters loneliness as she is trapped in the house all day with no one to talk to until their dad comes home. This quote signals the identity of the family, the “crying,” the “snowballs” and the “cold, hard scalp.” Elements of crying come from Yunior’s mom, along with the feeling of desperation. The innocence of kids but also not knowing what to say when seeing mom cry comes from Yunior and Rafa since they don’t know what to do, they throw snowballs instead. The cold, hard scalp signifies his father and the moment when his father took him to the barber to have Yunior’s hair shaved. The feeling of helplessness exudes into this quote and highlights their time in the Invierno or what they would rather call it the inferno.