The Hunting Wives

When the women gather for their “hunting evenings,” they meet not at Margot’s primary residence but at her lake house (a more remote location in a densely wooded area by a lake). The isolated lake setting has sinister undertones, and the descriptions immediately suggest that whatever takes place here can more readily be concealed. As the women shift from their safe, conventional domestic spaces into this ominously forested wilderness, they symbolically abandon their usual social roles and embrace a lawless realm that allows them to “cut loose” and engage in shooting, drinking, and pursuing other men. All of these activities challenge the mainstream social norms that are arbitrarily associated with femininity and motherhood. The lake house setting also conforms to a common trope of mysteries and thrillers, which frequently utilize remote locations as crime scenes.

The ritualized nature of the meetings, which happen at the same time every week and follow a similar structure, gives them an almost mythical quality. The idea of women escaping into the wilderness to engage in lawless or feral behavior can be traced back to Classical works such as The Bacchae, while other modern works of literature such as Fight Club have explored the need for an escape from the capitalistic social norms of contemporary America. Margot’s hunting evenings are therefore portrayed as a way for the women to “blow off some steam” as they embrace a form of Self-Destruction Masked as Escapism (17). Specifically, the women do not engage in any meaningful connection or community-building, and tension lurks at the edges of their superficially friendly interactions. They also make rash choices that compel them to lie about their activities, potentially jeopardizing their otherwise carefully curated lives.

Sophie is shocked by the illicit activities that occur during the hunting evenings, but she ignores her misgivings and continues to indulge in her idealized view of Margot, illustrating The Danger of Emotion-Based Misperceptions. Sophie knows that she is engaging in risky behavior by entering into situations where she could easily betray Graham or be suspected of doing so, but she is also enticed and titillated by the group’s activities. As she reflects, “Despite the sense of alarm that looms in the air […] it excites me. Makes me feel alive” (71). Because of her desire to earn Margot’s approval and affection, Sophie is also hesitant to appear critical, and Margot makes it very clear that she will ostracize anyone who doesn’t participate. This dynamic becomes clear in her cold reaction to Sophie’s decision to leave early. As Sophie notes, “[Margot] won’t even meet my eyes and it’s as though I don’t exist anymore” (82). This incident reveals that Margot ruthlessly maintains her power over the tight social circle by shaming anyone who questions or challenges her. This behavior also implicitly raises the possibility that Margot might also be cold enough to kill someone who interferes with her queen-bee status.

The aftermath of the first hunting evening reveals the depth of Sophie’s infatuation with Margot, as when Margot ignores her, Sophie pines. The rainy weather during this time period functions as a pathetic fallacy (a literary device in which the external world mirrors a character’s inner state). The bleak and gray weather reflects Sophie’s sadness when Margot ignores her and conveys her dismay at the thought that she may have lost the chance to establish a relationship with the object of her obsession. Sophie also alludes to “Tennyson’s Mariana, [a poem] about a woman waiting for her lover who never arrives” (90). This poem from 1830 in turn alludes to the character of Mariana in Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure; after her lover abandons her, Mariana lives a lonely and isolated life, trapped by boredom and sexual frustration. This nested allusion vividly conveys the degree to which Sophie’s feelings for Margot have become both romantic and sexual, for she consciously compares herself to a woman who has been jilted by a man she longs to marry. These increasingly intense feelings render Sophie vulnerable to capitulating to whatever Margot wants, further developing the theme of Threat of Repressed and Unsatisfied Desire.