The three female characters are all struggling for a sense of personal identity, a struggle manifest in their search for work (Molly/Mona), for freedom from poverty as represented by the cockroach infestation (Charlene/Chona), and for pleasure in violence (Verona who, interestingly enough, never actually appears as Veronica). The Naturalist speaks with what seems to be the voice of an educated white scientist, judgmental and intellectually, but not physically, oppressive. Lutzky, with his white-sounding name, seems to represent the carelessness, insensitivity and crudeness of those outside the African-American experience as represented by the lives of the three female characters.