Life in a Cupboard

I'm currently reading The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy) for my Contemporary World Novel course, and I was particularly struck by this description:

Some things come with their own punishments. Like bedrooms with built-in cupboards. They would all learn more about punishments soon. That they came in different sizes. That some were so big they were like cupboards with built-in bedrooms. You could spend your whole life in them, wandering through dark shelving (109).

While I don't necessarily connect this feeling to punishment for a wrong, I see where she's coming from. It's beautiful and terrifying at the same time.