Turning Music by AM HolmesA.M. Holmes' critique of the malfunctioning American dream in modern suburbia examines contemporary domestic life through a variety of socially realistic metaphors. No metaphor is a stronger critique of the dark domestic world it presents than the recurring theme of clothing as a mask that its characters use to hide their true identities. The novel focuses on the importance of “socially acceptable” clothing as an expression of each character's overall desire to achieve a state of normality, if not perfection. Yet irony emerges from the depiction of clothing both as a cover for its usual role of cover and as a means of display. This ironic situation of clothing as a literal and abstract costume to hide physical and mental disfigurement reinforces the assertion that Homes' characters' true desires are often protected from themselves and others, and yet are ultimately revealed through what they wear . The juxtaposition of the clothing motif is that clothing, or the lack thereof, serves to both hide and reveal internal conflicts of sexuality, discontent, or personal esteem. The use of clothing as a disguise is evident primarily in its role of covering the characters' secret sexual lives. Every time he calls, Henry's date asks the person on the other line, "What are you wearing?" His constant desire to know the character's clothing reveals the importance that the external appearance has in a sexual connotation; the characters are repeatedly in various states of dressing and undressing. Nate's mother, who Paul calls Mrs. Apple, answers her door wearing her husband's shirt. The inconsistency lies in the apparent normality of his appearance...... middle of paper ......snatched above all by his mother, Mrs. Apple, who justifies his frequent absences at conferences and war games such as if they were commonplace and acceptable behavior for men. However, his father's absence forces Nate to imitate and adopt his father's appreciation of guns and ammunition with a distorted sense of masculinity, concluding with Sammy's death and the death of the innocence of the novel as a whole. Music For Torching inverts many social conventions as a satirical commentary on the secretly flawed world of suburban America. The typical social convention for the purpose of clothing is to cover one's body; however, in Holmes' novel, the accepted function of clothing is stretched and even reversed. Clothing not only covers the physical body as well as unexpressed thoughts and entities, but also reveals those entities through a blend of subtle and thematic details..