Miriam’s vast, secret collection of stolen objects is a complex symbol of her attempt to impose order on a chaotic world, directly connecting to the themes of spiritual seeking and family disintegration. Her stealing is not about material gain but is framed as a form of “Tikkun Olam, or the fixing of the world” (87). Each stolen item is a “missing piece” that, when acquired, corrects an “internal dislocation” and is understood by her as restoring a sense of wholeness. The precise arrangement of objects in her storage unit reflects a private and carefully constructed inner world. This pattern originates in her childhood search for “Perfectimundo,” a state of perfect symmetry that she first accessed through a kaleidoscope. The secret collection is the adult version of the kaleidoscope’s interior: a private, perfectly ordered reality that she creates for herself, hidden from the outside world.

While the collection provides Miriam with a sense of purpose and control, it is a spiritual path based on secrecy that isolates her completely from her family. Her obsessive quest for personal wholeness requires deception and emotional distance, symbolizing the atomization of the Naumann family, where each member pursues a private spirituality that fractures their communal bonds. The collection’s eventual discovery by the police is the catalyst for the family’s complete collapse. When Saul is shown the warehouse, he sees a vision that is both beautiful and terrifying, a testament to a rich inner life he never knew his wife possessed. The collection thus highlights a tension within the novel, where attempts to establish order at an individual level contribute to the weakening of relationships within the family.