Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
When Pearl was little, she and her mom watched movies all the time when her dad was on business trips. Check out her explanation:
He'd be gone for about a month at a time, and for those weeks it was like my mom and I were roommates. We never made our beds and we didn't keep to any kind of a schedule and we watched girl movies after I finished my homework and it was like they were dating each other in the type of movie we liked best. (6.2)
Sure, it sounds sweet enough… but then her dad ditches them and her mom doesn't want to watch lovey-dovey movies anymore. Instead her mom watches slasher flicks. Hmm… it seems like her mom's choice of genre says a lot about what she's feeling. When she's in love, she watches chick-flicks with romance as the main theme, but when she's feeling down and out, she watches something with more blood and guts. Movies become a symbol for Pearl's mom's feelings. So check her Netflix queue to get a sense of how she's doing.