The way the first two stories in The House happened in isolation essentially, that the residents had no outside support, but the third relied immensely on outside help and influence and therefore is why it had an escape the others lacked
The family whose relatives actively scorned them and disapproved of their living situation to the point of the family dreading relatives visiting, the renovator who was so lacking in any and all connections that he was actively harassing his dentist with personal calls…
The House was all they had, it was what would make them whole, what they could build a life with. “He said we would be the envy for miles around!” “I’ve invested my whole life in this house!” They didn’t have a life they valued before this, and the house was the foundation the built their new lives on. Their futures depended on the house being a good thing for them. The best thing really.
Rosa had more though. She lived there yes, and she put her own stakes in the house, in trying to make it what it once was. You can see her falling into the same traps as the others had and it’s easy to see the watery grave awaiting her. But she has outside support, whether she wants it or not. People who want her to have more than this and to take a chance doing something for herself instead of for the tangible house that’s caused her nothing but stress. So they change things. They rip the house itself off the foundations, repurpose it to serve Rosa instead of her serving it. It becomes the vessel for her to find a new life and follow her friends where they’ll go, floating on top of the water that would’ve otherwise drowned her if she remained there too long.
I just think it’s neat, the way having a supportive structure changed fundamentally the outcome of the residents. Because sometimes pulling yourself up isn’t enough when there’s nothing there to help keep you up. Sometimes you need a life raft from a friend so you don’t drown in it all.
