For Judy, lipstick has both pleasurable and painful connotations. Her conflict with her father stems from her wearing it and his rejection of it. "He looks at me like I’m the ugliest thing in the world," she tells an officer. Her desire to get her father’s attention with lipstick is characteristic of the Electra complex she has for him. Instead of showing his approval, however, he smears it off her lips and calls …showed first 75 words of 463 total…

…showed last 75 words of 463 total…act as responsible adults and their unwillingness to accept their teen-aged children into an adult world. Ray also seems to be saying that once an adult, one must let go of his or her childhood. Those who cannot make the transformation often pay for it at an immeasurable cost. Those who make it through the threshold of adulthood try to make meaning of a fragmented society and a universe that holds little value for them.