One of Eileen’s coping mechanisms is putting on what she calls a “death mask.” This is to hide her emotions from the people she interacts with. The death mask that Eileen wears foreshadows her own “death” in X-ville. When Eileen finally leaves X-ville, she describes herself as driving with her death mask so as to not reveal her excitement, the exhilaration of finally being free.

Each of the characters in Eileen wear a mask. Rebecca wears the mask of false friendship and Eileen’s father that of an upstanding citizen. Leonard Polk, like Eileen, wears a death mask. He is also imprisoned by society in a role he doesn’t want. Both Eileen and Leonard wear death masks to preserve their true identity and protect their independence from social and gender roles.

Eileen drives her family’s old Dodge with a broken exhaust pipe. She does not bother to get the car fixed, though she hopes that it will somehow help her escape X-ville. The car symbolizes the broken and toxic state of the Dunlop family. Eileen’s struggle against carbon monoxide poisoning reflects the toxicity of her family. Though Eileen hopes the car will make it out of X-ville, she abandons it on the side of the road with Mrs.