“She was […] not a dream but a presence that filled the whole room: a force all her own, a living otherness.”

After Theo kills Martin in Amsterdam, Audrey visits Theo in a dream. However, she feels very real and present, even though she is dead. In this way, Tartt demonstrates how present and real Theo’s grief is even years after Audrey’s death. He cannot escape it, and many of his actions are an attempt to silence the grief. 

“And there was something festive and happy about the two of us, hurrying up the steps beneath the flimsy candy-striped umbrella, quick quick quick, for all the world as if we were escaping something terrible instead of running right into it.” 

As Theo and Audrey rush into the Met, they are rushing toward her death. Here, Theo touches on the theme of order and chaos. On the one hand, this one seemingly random choice leads to Audrey’s death. On the other hand, this move could have been fated, setting in motion the trajectory of Theo’s ensuing life. 

“The living room—normally so airy and open, buoyant with my mother’s presence—had shrunk to a cold, pale discomfort, like a vacation house in winter: fragile fabrics, scratchy sisal rug, paper lamp shades from Chinatown and chairs too little and light.” 

Tartt fills the novel with sensory details regarding objects and the settings they occupy. Without Audrey, the apartment that was once so comforting to Theo now feels lifeless. All the objects shift as a result of Audrey’s loss, and Theo notes the difference.