 Throughout the story there are brief mentions of three women (Peter Brown's wife, Boddo's mom, and Father Luke's sister) that do not serve a strong purpose, but simply mention their name and relation to a prominent husband or another male character of the text.Peter Brown's fiancée "serves as a mere audience for Father Luke's long monologue regarding his scandalous past" This open our eyes as the reader to the continuation of race and sexuality and how the three are highlighted throughout the text.Though the absence of women is "hidden" in a way that is not noted from the author, it still strikes as a theme worth emphasizing in relation to the meaning of the text.