The Crash

In the novel’s central conflict, Polly is the antagonist. Her role as co-narrator makes her character nearly as central as Tegan. It also offers access to her thoughts, emotions, motives, and history, making her a complex and redeemable antagonist rather than a villain. Polly both embodies and subverts the archetypal role of the caregiver. Her interactions with Sadie show how nurturing she can be, but the source of that trait, her intense desire to be a mother, is also what leads to her drastic and life-threatening action against Tegan, developing the novel’s complex take on The Psychological Influence of Maternal Instinct.

Polly is motivated by her intense and consuming desire to have a child. Her backstory reveals several factors that influenced this desire, such as her close relationship with her mother, and shows how it evolved over the years into an obsession. This desire is behind her actions against Tegan, but guilt also motivates Polly. She believes that Hank would make a great father and blames herself for depriving him of that opportunity. Polly’s relationship with Hank and their conflict after Tegan enters their lives illuminate tensions between loyalty, complicity, and betrayal. She thinks that his loyalty to her means that he will go along with her crimes and protect her from the consequences. She feels betrayed when he takes Tegan to the hospital but eventually realizes that he did what was best for them and is grateful. Polly’s early relationship with Tegan, in which both women’s flawed perceptions lead them to make false assumptions about each other, develops the theme of Perception Versus Reality and the Dangers of Presumption. Polly assumes that Tegan doesn’t want her baby and will be a bad mother, basing her conclusion on stereotypes and circumstantial evidence, like the flask in Tegan’s purse. She also believes it because she wants to believe it, regardless of the truth, and her unwillingness to question her own motives highlights the theme of The Complex Ethics of Rationalization.

Polly’s character arc begins in the aftermath of trauma and loss, which has driven her to self-destructive acts and fueled her most relevant flaw: emotional instability centered around the belief that she can’t be whole or happy without a child. Her self-destructive acts are epitomized by “The Incident,” an episode with parallels to an archetypal event called “the fall,” which describes a descent to a lower state of being and symbolizes a loss of innocence. Encountering other pregnant women, especially Tegan, triggers jealousy and exacerbates Polly’s instability, bringing her to a point where she represses her empathy and respect for others’ lives. Polly’s plan to break Tegan’s kneecap feeds into another archetype, that of the character at a crossroads, and the fact that she doesn’t do it offers hope for her character’s redemption. However, true change and penance don’t follow. She reaches her true crossroads in the hospital when she saves Polly’s life instead of taking it. The epiphany that Hank is all the family she needs initiates healing and a resolution to her inner conflicts.

Hank is a central character who becomes caught in the middle of the book’s main conflicts and must navigate moral gray areas in response. He’s also a unique take on the ally archetype, as he’s incredibly devoted to Polly, yet his integrity brings him into conflict with her. He’s her ally because he remains loving and supportive even when he goes against her wishes; he acts as the voice of reason in the narrative. He also becomes an ally to Tegan. Their relationship is complicated by Tegan’s fear of Hank based on her false assumptions about him, but it’s Hank who defies his wife and risks imprisonment to take Tegan to the hospital.

A good deal of attention is given to Hank’s physical appearance in early descriptions. He’s tall, burly, and bearded—a “giant yeti of a man” (61). Hank’s imposing size fuels Tegan’s assumptions and fears. She calls him the “murder you and dump your body in a swamp” type” (58). Despite a lack of evidence, Tegan feels confident that Hank is an abuser with violent intentions toward her. Contrasting portrayals of his character from each of the two narrators offer a straightforward example of the tension between perception and reality and the dangers of presumption.

Hank’s character exhibits depth and complexity in its contradictions and its balance of flaws and redeeming qualities. He isn’t violent by nature, but he can be when it comes to protecting Polly and Sadie. This influences his choices regarding Tegan and Mitch, adding a unique perspective to the theme of The Complex Ethics of Rationalization. Hank wants to do the right thing for Tegan but also wants to avoid conflict with Polly, leading him to remain purposely oblivious to the reality of her situation. Even in hindsight, Hank lacks insight into his denial, leaving him a mainly static character. In reference to the day he brought Tegan to the hospital, he says, “Polly begged me not to, but when I realized that girl was being held in our home against her will, there was no question of what I had to do” (324). He’d seen plenty of evidence that Tegan wasn’t there willingly long before that but was torn between the woman he loves and the innate rights of a woman he didn’t know. Hank’s role in these conflicts probes the boundaries between loyalty and betrayal.

Dennis turns out to be one of the story’s main antagonists, though this doesn’t become apparent until the climax, when Polly catches him trying to kill Tegan in her hospital room. Before that, his character is portrayed through Tegan’s flawed perception of him. She sees him as a best friend and protector and as “an anxious mama hen” when it comes to her well-being (83). This is an example of an unreliable narrator giving unintentionally misleading information, shaping the plot and setting up the novel’s ultimate plot twist.

Dennis embodies the archetypal shapeshifter: While his backstory suggests that he truly was Tegan’s ally in the past, he’s only pretending to be now. His betrayal of Tegan makes him a villain that evokes little sympathy. One of Tegan’s comments demonstrates the role that his character plays in developing the book’s themes. She notes, “I still don’t understand how he could’ve done that to me. I loved Dennis more than anyone else in the world. I thought he felt the same way about me. It was the kind of betrayal that you can never bounce back from” (319). Tegan’s initially rosy perception of Dennis leaves her ignorant of his resentment and greed, making his actions surprising and incomprehensible to her and further developing the novel’s message about Perception Versus Reality and the Dangers of Presumption. His motives—he blames Tegan for his ruined skiing career and is desperate to preserve his business deal with Simon—create some depth in his characterization, but more importantly, they demonstrate The Complex Ethics of Rationalization.

Jackson is Tegan’s romantic interest and an archetypal ally. His initial reaction to Tegan’s claim that Simon raped her introduces the possibility that he’s not on her side, but his subsequent actions redeem him. Before Tegan begins to think that he’s merely been “handling” her to help cover Simon’s crime, she sees him as incredibly thoughtful and generous. He’s unthreatening in appearance and doesn’t seem to judge Tegan for her status as an unmarried mother-to-be. In this way, Jackson acts as a foil to those in society who do condemn her, like her neighbor. Jackson’s thoughts, motivation, and backstory aren’t revealed, leaving little room for development or growth, and he remains a largely static character. However, his disbelief in Tegan’s claim of rape, his ensuing shame, and his efforts to atone offer a small arc of transformation for his character. Jackson develops the book’s thematic ideas about perception, presumption, and complicity.

Simon is the story’s least complex antagonist, demonstrating no redeeming qualities within the scope of the narrative. As an archetype, he’s the shadow—a villain who exists to do harm and create conflict. He drugs women, rapes them, and then uses bribes and coercion to keep them quiet. Simon’s conflict with Tegan explores the impacts of rape and the societal obstacles faced by rape survivors. His wealth enables him to get away with his crimes, and it also stokes Dennis’s greed and ambition, motivating him to try to kill Tegan. These aspects of the plot suggest that money and greed are often at the center of that tension. Simon’s eventual conviction and imprisonment provide a satisfying resolution that promotes the message that justice is possible and worth pursuing in cases of rape.