50 pages • 1-hour read
Piglet
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Part 2, Chapter 2-Part 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary: “New”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of disordered eating.
As they leave the church, Piglet realizes that Kit has no idea how unhappy she is. She starts to walk into the street, but the photographer, Madeline, pulls her back so that she and Kit can take photos as a couple. Cecelia asks Madeline to take a picture of her family without Piglet, and as Piglet watches them, she realizes that they are a solid unit and that she is the outsider.
As Piglet, Kit, and Madeline drive away in the rented Rolls-Royce for photos at the house, Kit and Madeline both realize that Piglet is unhappy. Kit overcompensates by talking about how happy he is while Madeline takes photos of everything but their faces. When they arrive at the house, Piglet wants to check on the caterers, but Madeline and Kit insist on taking more portraits at the house. As Piglet’s mood gets worse, so does Kit’s, until they are barely able to look at each other. Piglet imagines a life full of fights and resentment and decides that she cannot pretend. She tells Kit that she cannot get over his lie and that marrying him hasn’t changed anything. She considers revealing his betrayal to their guests but agrees not to after he begs her.
Piglet enters the small kitchen and asks the caterers for something to eat. They reluctantly bring her a sample of everything that will be served: beef bourguignon, dauphinoise potatoes, roasted mushrooms, and pate. Piglet begins eating with her hands, unconcerned with her dress. When Franny arrives to bring Piglet back to the reception, Piglet transfers £2,000 from her joint bank account with Kit to Franny.
At the reception, Piglet finds Kit, Cecelia, and Madeline huddled in serious conversation. Cecelia reminds Piglet that the wedding is a special day and encourages her not to let a bad mood ruin the day. Piglet’s parents appear to thank Cecelia and Richard for hosting the wedding. Cecelia condescendingly thanks them for buying Piglet’s dress.
In the interstitial epigraph, two waiters guess how long the marriage will last, joking that it will end before the reception.
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary: “Borrowed”
As Kit and Piglet enter their dinner reception, they are introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. Piglet feels as if Mrs. Edwards is a different person, disconnected from herself. As Mrs. Edwards, she recognizes that all the plans Piglet made for the wedding were foolish. The table decorations and favors look ridiculous to her new eyes, and she is horrified at the cost of the reception. She remembers how sophisticated and wealthy she felt on the day that she chose the wedding singer; now, she feels as if the band is pretentious. Although she had looked forward to the adoration and affirmation of her guests, she is now horrified by their open-mouthed cheering and their stares. As she and Kit sit in a pair of elaborate thrones at the head table, she notices how shabby they seem compared to how she imagined them.
Piglet begins to eat everything around her, using her fingers to scoop both pate and butter onto several slices of baguette. She imagines Cecelia criticizing her behavior and joking about the origins of her nickname. She sees that her parents are also staring at her and imagines them complaining to Franny about her greed and appetite. A group of small children leave their table and try to take apart the croquembouche, squeezing the choux buns in their hands. She demands more food, and Kit begs her to stop. As her father begins to pull out the notecards containing his speech, she imagines him teasing her about her eating habits in front of the guests.
Piglet eats the leftovers off other plates as Kit begins his speech. Angry at the laughs and smiles he is receiving, she takes the microphone from him. Kit sinks into his seat as Piglet reveals his betrayal to the assembled guests. As she lifts her glass to raise a toast to Kit, the seam of her dress rips, exposing the too-tight lingerie beneath. She rips off her wedding ring.
In the interstitial epigraph, a guest exclaims that this is the best wedding they’ve ever been to.
Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary: “Blue”
Piglet stands up, leaving Kit at their table. She grabs the largest of the three croquembouche and pushes the other two onto the ground. Cecelia urges the band to start playing as Piglet walks out of the reception. As she reaches the edges of the grounds, she notices that her mother and sister are behind her. They ask why she never told them about Kit’s betrayal, and Piglet is annoyed when she realizes that Linda is more concerned with Kit than herself. Franny gives her the keys to Darren’s car and assures her that everything will be alright. When Linda comments on the ruined dress, Piglet sends her £250 from her personal account and promises to pay the rest of the cost of the dress back.
As Piglet drives away, she sees Cecelia standing on the edge of the lawn, watching her. She drives past her without making eye contact. At the gate of the property, she sends a text to Margot saying that she’s on her way and then turns off her phone. She realizes that she doesn’t have enough gas to make it to Margot’s house and stops at a gas station, where an attendant jokes about her being a runaway bride.
At Margot’s house, Piglet realizes that her friend is in a delicate condition, having only given birth a few days prior. A small part of her regrets revealing Kit’s betrayal and wishes that she were still at the reception. As she tells Margot about the wedding day, she realizes that the life she was building was a lie and starts to cry for the first time. Margot suggests that Piglet smash the croquembouche, as she had planned to do with Kit at the wedding. As Piglet smashes the cake with a baseball bat, she reflects that Kit’s betrayal caused her to indulge her hunger but ultimately left her feeling empty. Although she regrets ruining the wedding day, she knows that Kit will be okay without her.
In the interstitial epigraph, Piglet realizes that although she doesn’t know what she wants, she at last has the freedom to choose for herself.
Part 3, Chapter 1 Summary: “1”
Piglet wakes up at Margot’s house, unsure of where she is. She slowly remembers the night before and fixates on the image of the buttons on her wedding dress breaking as she flexed her back. She looks out into the backyard and sees the remnants of the croquembouche smashed into the grass. Although the sight shocks her, she realizes that the ruined cake is less upsetting than the ruined life she had been building. She imagines her family sitting with Kit’s parents at the post-wedding brunch and feels sick.
Piglet finds Margot and Sasha in the kitchen, with Margot holding their new baby, Layla. Piglet asks how Layla is doing and guiltily realizes that this is the first time she’s asked about the new family since the baby was born. Sasha says that Margot is an amazing mother, and Margot asks if Piglet wants to hold the baby. Piglet feels overwhelmed when Layla is placed on her chest and can hardly believe that she or the baby is real. Sasha gives Piglet fresh clothes, including a Jeremy Corbyn T-shirt, and hides £100 in a pants pocket. Margot reminds Piglet that she is welcome at any time, and Piglet leaves.
Piglet stops at Waitrose to buy groceries as she does every Sunday. For the first time, she thinks about what she wants to eat, rather than considering Kit’s preferences or a meal she has to cook for guests. She buys the ingredients for pasta puttanesca. When she arrives home, the house is empty. Her parents briefly stop by to pick up their things. Piglet’s father asks if she plans to come home with them, but Piglet insists that this is her home. Her mother reveals that Kit defended her after she fled the wedding.
When Kit arrives, her family leaves awkwardly. Piglet apologizes for leaving and cannot answer when Kit asks if she is happy. When he asks what she wants to do now, she replies that she plans to make dinner. He asks if she will cook for him, implying that he is willing to stay, but she refuses. Kit leaves, promising to reach out in a few days to discuss an annulment. As he says goodbye, he calls her by her real name, Pippa. Alone in the house, Piglet prepares the pasta and then eats until she is satisfied.
Part 2, Chapter 2-Part 3 Analysis
The structure of the final section of the novel reflects Piglet’s increasing desperation about her wedding and the prospect of life as a single woman without Kit. In Part 1—which constitutes almost two thirds of the novel—each chapter describes one day leading up to the wedding, with the title of the chapter corresponding to the number of days until the wedding. This structure builds tension as Piglet becomes increasingly unsure of whether or not she wants to marry Kit, and her binge eating becomes more severe, connecting her emotional upheaval with the theme of Body Image and the Pressure to Be Thin. The second part of the novel contains four chapters that all take place on the day of the wedding. The titles of these chapters—“Old,” “New,” “Borrowed,” and “Blue”—echo the traditional belief that brides should have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue on their wedding day. While the first section builds tension by counting down to the wedding, the second section highlights the horror of the wedding day by stretching it across four chapters. As Piglet moves through her wedding day, her emotions are amplified with each subsequent chapter. The final section of the novel contains just one chapter, titled “1,” which describes the day after Piglet flees her wedding. The title of this final chapter reflects the fact that it is the first day of her new life. The unusual structure of the novel reflects Piglet’s transformation as she moves from anxious fiancée to unwilling bride to runaway bride.
In the second section of the novel, Piglet’s emotional turmoil is reflected in the narrative’s use of her married name over her nickname before revealing her birth name in the final chapter. Initially, Piglet associates her married name, Mrs. Edwards, with her mother-in-law, Cecelia. When the newlyweds arrive at the reception site, their wedding planner calls her “by a name she recognize[s] only as Cecelia’s” (249). The fact that Piglet has never thought of herself as Mrs. Edwards reflects her uncertainty about proceeding with the wedding. Her inability to imagine herself as a part of Kit’s family serves to foreshadow the inevitable downfall of their marriage.
As the wedding progresses, Hazell uses the names Mrs. Edwards and Piglet simultaneously to reflect Piglet’s inner turmoil. Hazell uses the name Piglet to describe the idealistic protagonist before her marriage and Mrs. Edwards to indicate the protagonist’s disappointment after the wedding. While planning the wedding, “Piglet had thought that these thrones, ornate and golden, would make a nice picture, something enviable to share on the internet” (266). After the revelation of Kit’s betrayal, “Mrs. Edwards s[ees] them plainly: the metallic paint chipped to reveal a black plastic beneath, the red velvet cushion synthetic, suspiciously smooth” (266). The use of two different names to describe the protagonist in these passages reflects both Piglet’s emotional instability and her disappointment in the marriage. While Piglet was hopeful about her ability to build a beautiful life for herself, Mrs. Edwards recognizes her marriage as a façade, supporting Piglet’s thematic revelation that The Pressure to Build a Perfect Life has resulted in an essentially hollow union.
As the wedding continues, Hazell stops using the name Piglet, referring to the protagonist only as Mrs. Edwards. Along with this name change comes a change in tone as the wedding day grows increasingly horrific and claustrophobic. As the drinks service begins, “Mrs. Edwards watche[s] as the waitress lean[s] over, liquid like deoxygenated blood filling the glass” (267). The violent description of wine as deoxygenated blood reflects Piglet’s sense that part of her is dying. At the end of Part 2, it is Mrs. Edwards, not Piglet, who leaves the wedding. As she flees the reception, “Mrs. Edwards’s eyes [a]re cast down, her right hand twisting at the ring on her left” (271). In these passages, Hazell’s use of Piglet’s married name reflects her sense of being trapped in her marriage.
In the final pages of the novel, Hazell reveals Piglet’s birth name: Pippa. After Kit and Piglet decide to annul their marriage, Kit leaves their home for the last time, saying, “See you, Pippa” (302). The use of the protagonist’s birth name at the end of the novel, rather than her offensive nickname or her unwanted married name, reflects the fact that she has finally escaped the expectations of her family and the expectations of her marriage to Kit.
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