What is the relationship between Mark and Adam?

The author uses Mark's appearance in Chapter Four, as a point of access to a more nuanced view of Miranda. Her interactions with Mark link her to the more traditional maternalistic notions of womanhood, of stereotypically feminine authenticity. Simultaneously, her attentions to Mark stir jealousies in both Charlie and Adam.

Charlie and Adam's similarly competitive feelings for Miranda's attention, therefore, further equate them as individuals, as living bodies with mirroring motivations. The author's beginning allusions to parallels between the men promises to affect the evolving narrative tension. This tension is increased by the fact that Miranda and Charlie wish to adopt Mark.... which alienates Adam all the more.

Though the social workers remove Mark shortly after his arrival, his presence in the apartment also foreshadows coming conflict. Adam's insistence that Charlie and Miranda notify the authorities based on his moralistic beliefs in harboring a child that is not their own, further presses the author's thematic exploration of personhood, agency, and independence of the body. Adam is totally discomfitted by Mark's appearance, and Miranda's reaction, so he interferes and calls the police. In the final scene of Chapter Four, Adam begins to even more significantly dismantle these boundaries between owned and owner, when he counters Charlie and breaks his wrist.