Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Boob Tube
Dolores's very first memory, in the book's very first chapter, is of a television, and her confusion upon seeing it. She thinks, "Who shrank these women? Are they alive? Real?" (1.2) The irony here being that the more Dolores watches television, the more she shrinks emotionally, feeling more and more hollow inside the longer she spends checking out of her life and into the fictions broadcast on the screen. "Television watching became my habit" (1.7), Dolores tells us, drawing a parallel between her escape into tv-land and drug addiction.
When Dolores marries Dante, she covers up the TV, nothing that "Without the pictures seducing you, TV was just a powerless ghost" (23.32). It's a moment when she tries to check into her life, to give it a real go with Dante. But after they divorce, Dolores settles back into her comfortable ways, getting a satellite dish with her grandma's money after her death. Dolores, we can see here, has checked right back out.
Eventually Roberta convinces her to sell the dish and get some wheels, though, and it's only when Dolores ditches the dish and the TV that she can actually go places. The TV roots her down, while the car sets her free. Importantly, it's Roberta's friendship that prompts this change in Dolores's life—as Dolores finds meaning in her life via her time with Roberta, she becomes able to explore the idea that there might be other sources of meaning to engage with, too.