The Staircase in the Woods

Each of the five main characters, including Matty, has—at best—a problematic home life. At worst, they are subjected to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that continues to haunt them well into adulthood. As children, these characters find one another and come together to create a loyal friend group, which they call the “Covenant.” This lofty name suggests the solemnity and intensity of their bond. In referring to themselves as the Covenant, they implicitly recognize that these relationships are more significant than their familial connections

For the five friends, the Covenant provides them with a sense of “home” that they lack in their own families’ houses. The group provides “[a] safe space, a found family, a real home, existing wherever they each [a]re at any time—they c[an] always shelter in place with one another” (70). Because Lauren is habitually abandoned by her uncaring mother, she harbors feelings of worthlessness that are only relieved by the presence of her friends. Prior to their camping weekend, she thinks, “Alone, alone, alone. Well, not this weekend. This weekend […] it was getting away from this home and going to her real home, which was wherever the crew was hanging out” (67).