How did having boarders affect day-to-day life?
The first thing I noticed about the Riepers’ home was all the signs and regulations posted on the walls. On the notice board by the telephone, by the bathroom, by the kitchen door, in the kitchen. Every ‘public’ space in the house was regulated. It was difficult for Pauline to find a place to call her own in that house. Tripping over ‘strangers’ everywhere she turned meant that she would have been unable to really relax or just be herself in her own home. It would have been necessary to continually mind her P’s and Q’s and for her to put on her public face. The responsibility of running the boarding house would have been shared and it looked as if Pauline came up on the short end of that stick. We don’t see Wendy doing housework or dishes; in fact we see her being waited upon by Pauline at one point. Granted, Wendy was working and bringing in a paycheck, but her hours at work wouldn’t have been all that different from Pauline’s hours at school. Glamuzina and Laurie provide an interesti
