Content Warning: This section includes discussions of drug abuse and death by suicide.

“I think men are taught to buy things for women, yes. Not because we want to own you or control you, but because it’s a way to show we’re interested or we care that doesn’t require much, I don’t know, vulnerability. We’re not taught to communicate the way you are. We’re given these very limited, primitive tools to express ourselves.”

This quote establishes Frank’s position as a provider. He and Cleo both passively adhere to the social norm that the man in a relationship buys everything for the woman. While this is an old-fashioned way of thinking for such a modern couple, their financial realities are such that Cleo lacks money and Frank has an abundance of it. Here, Coco Mellors demonstrates how Frank conflates buying things for women with expressions of love. Frank acknowledges that men are not taught to be vulnerable, so being a provider is a gesture that can show love and appreciation without words. This foreshadows their future marriage, in which Frank provides for Cleo and feels unappreciated for his hard work.

“What is a wedding, Cleo wondered, if not a private dream made public, a fantasy suspended between two worlds like a cat’s cradle? But Cleo had never dreamed about getting married. What she fantasized about was her first solo show as an artist, a day dedicated solely to her.”

This quote highlights how Cleo’s dreams are centered on her art, not on her role as a wife. Cleo falls into a marriage out of necessity; no matter how much she loves Frank, they wouldn’t have had to get married if not for her citizenship status. Even so, her reflections about the wedding as a “private dream made public” emphasizes that in marrying Frank, she’s making a dream come true that she never knew she had.