Shaymus's perspective is influenced by his mother's cognitive dissonance in how he perceives the world. Her father rented "The Breakers" cottage online and the online photos were much more attractive than reality. Shaymus knew that the depiction of the cottage was actually misleading. He noted that “a picture might be worth a thousand words but they might all be lies” (3). On the contrary, the mother deludes herself into thinking that "she loves them because they remind her of the house she lived in". This illusion also reflects the idea of ​​the happy apparitions of the Walsh family. Like the images online, they try to simulate a happy family, but in reality they are dysfunctional at best. The author introduces readers that this is a significant illusion, and that there is more beneath the surface where one's reality collides with that of another.