The Quick Explanation

Barbarian is a three chapter story that explores a particular aspect of the female experience—specifically, what it means to interact with men and the way in which men interact with women. The potential danger that embodies the early stages of these encounters is only further heightened by taking place in Detroit, a city that radiates uneasiness. With Tess on the heels of a breakup from a scary ex and her attempting to restart her life, it seems pointed that the story has her returned to a metaphoric womb by a mother figure. Her eventual re-emergence and survival and putting down of the mother figure is the kind of symbolism to make Freud cry with joy. 

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-Chris Lambert