him was like closing a hand around air.” (Bender, 87) I like the metaphor “closing a
hand around air”. It perfectly describes how a girl feel after being ignored. The sense of
insecurity and loneliness are what Rose feels because of Joseph’s uncertainty, for
example, “My eyelids are my own private cave, he murmured. That I can go to anytime
I want.” (Bender, 104) I think the reason why Bender describe Joseph, a young boy to
be not approachable, which is transforming into furniture for a long time, is that she
wants to use transformation as a metaphor to indicate that boys are all uncertain. They
will not stay with you for a long time and they will go anytime they want without an
excuse. Many teenage girls' complaints about their own crushes that boys are so uncer-
tain and not understandable. I think this is the reason why Bender wants to express
female’s attitude toward male’s actions.
Deconstructing the psychological innate of the four characters in the Particular
Sadness of the Lemon Cake could help us to analyze the roles of Male and Female in
the literature. Specifically, the gender socialization difference is maximized in this book
with the distinguished style of descriptions among difference characters. The clear
portrayal between the specific visualized female behavior and the ignorance and silence
of the male characters are vividly presented. Based on the book, we could have an
overview of the current social phenomenon that female and male have their own ways
to deal with emotions and isolated situation.