Content Warning: This section discusses physical and sexual abuse against a child (specifically incest).

Pain and illness is a recurring motif in Spilled Milk, often the result of David’s abuse. The stage is set for the family’s life of pain and illness when Molly injures her back at work while the children are young. From then on, she is in constant pain and discomfort, and deals with the pain by taking copious amounts of painkillers. As a result, Molly is almost always in a stupor, feeling numb, stumbling around, and lashing out whenever things don’t go her way (however, it is important to note that this doesn’t excuse her potential complicity in David’s abuse). Her injury and substance use become so unbearable that Brooke is forced to take over as a maternal figure to her siblings.

Brooke experiences severe pain and illness throughout her childhood and adolescence. When she is assaulted by her father, it results in excruciating pain, and this pain alerts maternal figure Gina to Brooke’s home life. Brooke also experiences two surgeries: an appendix surgery and a hernia surgery. Each surgery grants her time away from her father’s abuse, and she relishes the temporary freedom despite the discomfort.