What is the importance of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital in the novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store?

Pennhurst State School and Hospital is an antagonistic location within the novel, and is significant because it represents the might of systemic injustice in the lives of individuals. Dodo's arrival at (and committal to) Pennhurst revolves around the system's ability to place him where they want regardless of his best interests, while the architecture of the building itself suggests the mute authoritarianism of the United States government. Furthermore, the particular way that Pennhurst advertises itself—as a space of uplift for those suffering from adverse circumstances and disabilities—speaks to the sense in which these industries and spaces tend to profess positivity about the very lives they seek to destroy, alter, or "keep in line." Thus, the specter of Pennhurst stands in for the power of government at large, and comes particularly to bear on the novel's conversations around race and disability.