In this scene, Tom is transfixed by his imaginary game of “house”, although the diaper he wears indicates that he’s too young to be living out the reality of homelife. Meanwhile, Jerry, who would be safer to avoid Tom’s carnivorous attention, strolls by in a seductive pose, casting Tom a suggestive glance.

In this context, Tom and Jerry symbolize a young man and woman who are both poorly positioned to be embodying the roles they are trying to fill. Jerry is a young woman who is highly vulnerable to predatory appetites, but is seeking Tom’s affection anyway. She goes on to seduce him by appealing to his fantasy of nuclear family life. Tom, conversely, serves to represent a young man who is very intrigued by his own fantasy of family life, but is not sophisticated enough to protect Jerry from his own carnal appetites. 

While the impotus of this analysis springs from autobiographical narrative, the work strives to provide humorous comfort by drawing attention to the absurdities of naive young love.

This analysis belongs to a playful yet sobering body of work that explores storytelling, relationships, and archetypes. The scenes negotiate the dialectical relationship between stories and lived experience; stories imitate life, life imitates stories. The pieces acknowledge archetypes and stories as a vital tool for people to understand, process, and reflect on their own lives. On the other hand, the works also propose that archetypes come with negative consequences, such as prescribing ill-fitting habits, behaviors, and expectations.