Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead

Part 3 is the peak of the novel’s rising action before the climactic fallout of Part 4. Gilda and Eli’s mental health continue to worsen, with the former falling deeper into her inauthentic persona in ways that will hurt her in Part 4. Despite their distance, Gilda’s relationship with Eleanor deepens as Eleanor remembers small details about Gilda’s life and acts on them to comfort her. However, Gilda is devastated by the box of Thin Mint cookies that Eleanor gifts her. The gift is small and inexpensive, which fuels Gilda’s inability to respond to the situation. The Thin Mints make her angry, ashamed, and confused, as she hides them in her apartment and breaks her cupboard door in the process. Because Gilda is used to hiding her feelings and personal issues, this simple act of kindness inadvertently makes her uncomfortable. The Thin Mints remind Gilda that she exists, and exists in relation to other people whether she wants to or not. She spends much of her time trying to avoid this self-awareness by examining other people like a biologist would observe animals and refusing to communicate; she would rather investigate Grace’s potential murder and project onto Eli than work through her own pain. The Thin Mints are brought up once more during Gilda’s first encounter with Rosemary in Part 5, which reinforces Gilda’s girlfriend and friends wanting her to be happy. Gilda refuses this sentiment in Part 3, opting to hide the cookies and ignore the implications of Eleanor’s thoughtfulness; she also doesn’t fully acknowledge her childhood friend Ingrid’s care for her despite their distance. Gilda’s inability to reconcile with these feelings is partially to blame for the extreme stress she experiences in Part 4.

Gilda’s tower of dirty dishes finally falls and breaks toward the end of Part 3, symbolizing her life falling apart and being out of her control. Shortly after her dishes shatter, Gilda yells at Giuseppe as they drive somewhere for a date. She internally tells herself to stop between long-winded portions of her rant, yet can’t rein herself in. The force of gravity that topples Gilda’s dishes mirrors the hold her mental health conditions have over her life. The inauthenticity that Gilda believed was necessary for survival in Part 2 is short-lived and begins collapsing in on itself alongside her dishes. Austin’s use of the collapsing dish tower suggests that, regardless of how painful it may be, Living Authentically and being true to oneself must happen one way or another: Gravity will eventually pull one’s dishes down, just as Gilda’s continued ignoring of her needs leads to her outburst. Gilda yelling at Giuseppe, whom she doesn’t care for, stems from suppressed discomfort and frustration, and highlights how such suppression can cause one to lash out at loved ones too (like Eli).