The Hunting Wives

Sophie’s infatuation with Margot initially leads her to make assumptions based on bias, and when her feelings turn to animosity, she continues to let emotions shape her perception and belief. In both cases, Sophie’s reliance on emotions and biased perceptions creates dangerous situations, revealing the risks of impulsivity. Because Sophie becomes obsessed with Margot before ever meeting her, she makes assumptions that are solely based on Margot’s online presence. For example, she reads a comment that Margot posted on social media and concludes that “she fe[els] simpatico” (36). Sophie surmises that Margot shares her liberal political values and feels equally stifled in this conservative, religious small town. Thus, she assumes an affinity between herself and Margot based on nothing more than her desire for such a connection to exist.

Once she begins socializing with Margot, Sophie also overlooks a number of red flags because she longs to be accepted. She finds ways to rationalize and overlook Margot’s manipulative behavior because she is operating based on emotion and desperately wants to believe that Margot cares for her. Because she naively assumes that Margot is a good friend with good intentions, Sophie repeatedly engages in risky behavior that could jeopardize her marriage, and this pattern puts her in a very vulnerable position when Margot blackmails her into concealing evidence about Abby’s disappearance.

Once Sophie is accused of Abby’s murder, she experiences a complete shift in her emotions toward Margot, but even this shift is based on emotion rather than reason. Instead of craving Margot’s love and approval, Sophie perceives her to be the manipulative villain who framed her. She therefore swaps one emotional perspective for another and begins to make a series of shoddily reasoned assumptions. Incensed by her current predicament, she becomes convinced that Margot was involved in Abby’s murder, relying on circumstantial evidence to support her theory. Margot certainly had a potential motive for wanting Abby dead, but when Sophie becomes obsessed with proving that Margot killed Abby, it is clear that she wants this to be true because then her fury toward Margot will be fully vindicated. She jumps to conclusions based on emotions alone and puts herself in a dangerous situation, basing her actions on assumptions that turn out to be false. As a result of her rash action, she nearly dies at Jill’s hands because she recklessly presumes that she has already solved the crime. Whether she is being led by a desire for love or for revenge, Sophie creates dangerous situations whenever she makes assumptions based on emotion.