 The novel connects to Pym's other works in the realisation by characters that "relationships... are always better in imagination than in actuality" .The novel features some of Pym's common tropes, including intertextual use of quotes from English poetry, women being treated dismissively by men, and male characters who are exaggeratedly silly.Pym also uses clothing and alcoholic drinks as symbols to help clarify characters' social positions, as when Miss Morrow obsesses over a green dress she has been keeping for a special occasion even though it is inappropriate for her station in life, when Miss Doggett drinks sherry or Francis Cleveland takes a bottle of Niersteiner Glöck wine on a seductive picnic .