Persona is the construction of identity and in the novel is best exemplified in Mathilde’s journey to self-actualization. In trying to become socially viable and to conform to Lotto’s idea of her, Mathilde becomes a limited version of herself, confining and disintegrating her true self. Her rage seethes deep inside for years without an outlet, until the death of Lotto. Prior to Lotto’s death, Mathilde had become so integrated in attending to Lotto’s personal and professional life that she was almost absent from herself. In trying to find herself again, she experiences a negative restoration. Mathilde’s nihilistic domination of all the single men in her vicinity after Lotto’s death fails to bring her a sense of peace both in her grief and self-rediscovery because it is based on the false premise that she can only be all bad or all good.

Mathilde had become a shell since losing her brother at age 4, so she doesn’t not achieve lasting restoration of individualization until she learns to forgive herself for her past.

The paradox of marriage is that it is simultaneously a shared and individual experience. Groff’s intent in subverting the stereotypical marriage of the great American novel is to showcase the oft neglected