As a result, the viewer can conclude that the roses represent the Burnham's attempt to portray perfectibility and the materialistic American Dream. For many, the ultimate American Dream today is to have an attractive family who own an expensive car and live in big house with a white picket fence. While the Burnham's successfully portray the perfect suburban family on the outside, their inward appearance leaves something to be desired. Carolyn Bernham's necessity to keep up outward appearances resulted in a serene facade that concealed a dysfunctional family with anxiety, hypocrisy, unfulfilled desires, repressed needs, and shattered dreams. .
Also in this scene, the juxtaposition of the bright and almost artificial colors of the Bernham's home with the Fitts' very bland and regimented house became apparent to the viewer. The bright red front door of the Bernham's seems to serve as an entrance into the peculiarity that lurks inside. The bright light above the door seems to put a spotlight on the color red which can represent life or the color of blood. It also can serve to insinuate feelings of warmth, danger, love, sex, death, rage, lust and beauty. A deep red is also the color of Carolyn's lipstick and nail polish. I believe that this represents her yearning for power and passion in her life. .
The character of Carolyn Bernham is incredibly sad and lonely. It seems as though she tries to fill the voids her life with material items such as a nice car, a nice house and a nice garden. It seems that Carolyn just doesn't seem to step back and look at the big picture long enough to realize that these material items are just things and will not fill the emotional voids in her life.
I have lived in Fairfield County since I was 2 years old. Fairfield is one of the wealthiest counties in the country so you can only imagine the facades that cover so many families in my town. Throughout Fairfield there are fake little neighborhoods being built with "McMansions- that remind me of the town in the movie Edward Scissor Hands with Johnny Depp.
