The Scammer

“The girls laugh as I take a relieving sigh. I want them to like me, not pity me. I want them to be my friends. I don’t want them to know about Kevin. I want to leave my past buried under the fresh dirt I swept over it.”

Jordyn’s use of anaphora with the repetition of the words “I want” emphasizes her desperation for acceptance and highlights her internal conflict between forming new bonds and protecting herself from vulnerability, introducing the theme of The Struggle Between Belonging and Autonomy. The burial metaphor surrounding Kevin’s death conveys her suppressed grief, showing how she tries to conceal her loss rather than process it. Her desire to be liked comes at the cost of honesty, replacing her own feelings and history—and by extension, autonomy—with the perceived sense of community.

“On second glance, Nick is cute, in a preppy white boy kind of way. Baby-faced, but his blue eyes twinkle with mischief, which only makes me wonder…why is he here?”

When Jordyn sees Nick again after the party, her reaction foreshadows their future relationship. Despite her misgivings about the fact that he is white and reminds her of her old life, she still sees him as “cute” and ponders his attractiveness. At the same time, her question that immediately follows her observation highlights her mistrust, introducing the internal conflict between her feelings for Nick and her desire to connect with her Black identity.

“When [Devonte’s] eyes land on me, I flinch, as if hit by a static shock. He’s much taller than I thought he’d be. Thin, but muscular, with veins raised a touch beneath brown butter skin. His long locs cascade down the side of his face. He has dimples, which bring a youthfulness to his demeanor. But his dark shiny eyes hold a unique power.”

Devonte’s introduction establishes his magnetism and authority, using a simile to compare her reaction to a “static shock.” Her flinch signals an immediate, bodily response to him, even while she notes his attractiveness. This juxtaposition reinforces how Devonte’s influence is rooted in charisma and appeal, foreshadowing the danger he poses to Jordyn and her friends.

“The way she admires her brother…seems unearthly. Their relationship doesn’t fit the traditional mold of big brother/little sister.”

As Jordyn watches Devonte and Vanessa interact, her description of their relationship as “unearthly” elevates them beyond normality, foreshadowing their ability to manipulate and lie more so than most people. At the same time, this moment hints at the revelation that they, in fact, are not siblings. This small moment also hints toward Jordyn’s unreliability as a narrator, as she implies an understanding that she doesn’t overtly reveal.

“‘Well, they didn’t inject them with syphilis. They already had it but withheld treatment.’

‘Who knows if that’s even true tho!’

But I do know. I read science papers about it. Still, I hold my tongue.”

In this passage, Loren tells Jordyn about all she is learning from Devonte, highlighting the way that she is already beginning to idolize him. This is one of the first moments in the novel where Devonte’s influence becomes clear: Loren questions Jordyn’s knowledge of the facts of the story, highlighting her bias toward accepting Devonte’s words as truth. Second, Jordyn’s conscious decision to “hold [her] tongue” highlights how even she is susceptible to Devonte’s allure.

“You can’t help but be drawn to his serene strength, his soothing presence, like a palm tree by the beach soaking in the sun, facing the breeze or hurricane winds just the same.”

The simile, which compares Devonte to a palm tree, highlights his influence and the way that he has already taken root within their group of friends. Jordyn emphasizes the fact that he faces everything with “serene strength,” romanticizing his qualities. However, this description also highlights that the students’ perception of him is based on superficial impressions.

“This is not a part of the plan, my mind screams. This is dangerous, this is how you’ll get burned. But if I don’t walk through the fire, how will I gain the girls’ trust? His trust? How will I be one with them?”

Jordyn’s thoughts occur as the girls prepare for homecoming weekend, but Devonte encourages them to stay at home and drink his “tea” instead. In hindsight, this passage underscores the duality and unreliability of Jordyn’s narration, allowing for two different readings: either she strongly desires to be part of their group, or she is questioning how far she is willing to go to get revenge. In both readings, Jordyn faces an internal conflict tied to the theme of the struggle between belonging and autonomy, as she is sacrificing her control to continue to be part of her new community.

“The questioning went on like this, from every angle, for what seemed like hours. Devonte’s interrogation growing more intense. Like a rabid dog, he had his teeth sunk into an image in his mind and he wouldn’t let it go.”

The “interrogation” to which Jordyn refers comes in the moments after Nick leaves the dorm after spending the night. The simile comparing Devonte to a “rabid dog” marks one of the first moments where she equates Devonte with violence, replacing her early descriptions of his serenity and calm. This violent imagery reveals his need for control, but at the same time, Jordyn relents after the “interrogation” as she begins to question Nick’s motives, highlighting the increasing strength of Devonte’s hold over her.

“Loren’s face is bright red, rubbed raw, eyes flooded with tears. Devonte brightens. ‘Ah! There you are, Loren. Now we can see you.’

Loren nods, tears streaming down her face as she takes her seat. My stomach clenches with guilt.

He’s right. I’m not a good friend.”

Shortly after Jordyn first changes her tone about Devonte, referring to him as a “rabid dog” (119), she witnesses the violent scene where Devonte forces Kareem to scrub Loren’s face as she cries. Jordyn’s physical reaction (“my stomach clenches”) reflects her emerging moral awareness, but her self-blame shows how, even in this violent moment, she refuses to directly blame Devonte. Instead, she allows it to happen while simultaneously castigating herself for her passivity, illustrating the continuing tension between her developing identity and need to belong.

“The dread sinks and spreads to every part of my body, covering every organ in tar. One day, I’ll be too heavy to move. That’s when I’ll know it’s gone too far, I tell myself. But for now, I take another sip of fresh air, grip my keys, blades between my fingers, and softly step in.”

The metaphor of dread as “tar” emphasizes the emotional suffocation Jordyn experiences when she returns to her dorm to see Devonte. Danger has become normalized in her daily routine, a fact that she rationalizes through the use of the words, “for now.” Ultimately, this moment highlights how Jordyn’s autonomy continues to gradually erode, even as she acknowledges that she will be too deep “one day” to escape.

“I wait for someone to ask the obvious question: If he has money, why does he need ours? But no one utters a word.”

When Devonte demands that Jordyn and her friends get money, Jordyn questions why no one is standing up to him. Their silence, rather than asking the “obvious question,” demonstrates their collective complicity. Their critical thinking is suppressed in favor of the unity and community they’ve built, signaling just how deeply they’ve fallen under Devonte’s control.

“‘Plus, you can’t fight for injustice without having an intimate knowledge of the history of how we got here.’ […]

But who needs to take a class on Black history when I have a man, right at home, who’s allegedly teaching me everything I need to know about being Black?”

The first part of this quote comes from Nick as he explains why he is studying Black history as his minor. This moment underscores the contrast between Nick and Devonte, who serve as foils to each other. Nick highlights the academic study of Black history while Devonte manipulates that same history to fit his own narrative and facilitate control. Jordyn’s rhetorical question implies that she is questioning Devonte’s words even as she still goes along with them.

“‘When they make medicine, they test it on WHITE lab rats, not black ones. So how do we know if this stuff really works on us?’ I stand there, waiting for the punch line to her joke. When it doesn’t come, I hear the tinkling of broken glass as my façade crashes around me.”

As Loren explains the justification behind no longer taking her insulin, Jordyn’s expectation of a “punch line” highlights the ridiculous logic behind the argument. This moment reveals how Devonte’s influence has moved from abstract ideas to bodily consequences for Loren. The metaphor that compares the “façade” Jordyn has built to glass, underscoring the fact that Jordyn’s internal conflict is at a breaking point: She can no longer pretend that Devonte is not doing real harm to her friends.

“Outside, the rain is thick, an ocean dumping on our campus. We’re spiraling down a whirlpool to the bottom of the sea and no one knows it.”

Nick enters Jordyn’s dorm to return her iPad and sees Devonte with his followers, causing emotional chaos for Jordyn as she sees the reality of what Devonte is doing from an outside perspective. The weather, a rainstorm, metaphorically reflects the internal turmoil she faces, while her comment that only she sees the metaphorical “whirlpool” her friends are spiraling down underscores her isolation and the urgency she feels to finally act.

“Loneliness has a way of holding a mirror up, showing the emptiness of your life that you’re too ashamed to admit that you’re ashamed of, despite it not being your fault.”

These words, and the metaphor that compares the mirror to shame, highlight Jordyn’s internal motivation for keeping Devonte’s actions a secret. First, she is overwhelmed by the “emptiness” she would feel by betraying her friends, highlighting the theme of the struggle between belonging and autonomy. Second, it shows how greatly “shame” impacts her, as she is embarrassed to have been drawn into Devonte’s ideas and acknowledges that revealing them would also implicate her.

“Here I am again at school, an outsider with no friends. How did it happen so fast? How did our friendship evaporate like snow? What kind of spell did Devonte cast while I wasn’t around? Maybe that’s it. Maybe I shouldn’t have joined FUSA or taken fewer classes. I should have stayed close. Then, it wouldn’t have been me against them. It would’ve been us against him.”

After Jordyn escapes the dorm with Nick, she continues to grapple with her internal conflict over how to handle the situation, emphasizing the theme of The Impact of Culture and Community on Identity Formation. In her mind, she is to blame for failing to protect herself and her friends from Devonte. However, she fails to directly identify the overarching issue: Devonte himself. She still looks to her own actions as the cause, feeling as though sacrificing parts of her identity would’ve ensured remaining within the community of her friends and stopping Devonte.

“‘All fries are dipped in oil made of pig sweat.’ I breathe through my nose to keep myself from throwing up across the table. I know it can’t be true, what he said about pigs. But he had the research in hand. What if he’s right? What if corporations silence whistleblowers and we’re just poisoning ourselves?”

As Jordyn eats with Nick, her internal thoughts emphasize the impact that Devonte has over her. Even when she is separate from him, she still thinks of his words, which cause an aversion to food and impact her effort to return to normalcy. Her first-person perspective highlights the impact that Devonte has, lending insight into how his psychological tactics have allowed him to maintain control.

“Yeah. But there’s one more I came up with. I call it the boomerang. Every time you go through the stages of grief, and you think you’re finally okay, something triggers a memory, and you go through those stages all over again.”

Here, Jordyn discusses the five stages of grief with Nick, first identified in Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s text, On Death and Dying. To assess her own grief and help Nick understand his, she introduces the idea of a sixth stage, the “boomerang,” which emphasizes how grief circles back. Instead of being a linear progression through the stages, Jordyn envisions grief as cyclical and complicated, conveying the theme of the lasting effects of grief. Through discussing it with Nick, she acknowledges for the first time out loud how her grief impacts her, helping both her and Nick begin to heal.

“But as soon as [Nick] spots me, he lights up and my heart flutters. Despite everything I’m facing, Nick is the small dose of happiness I never imagined I would have again.”

These thoughts from Jordyn emphasize her developing relationship with Nick and the impact that it has on her. Her use of the words “I never imagined” emphasizes the irony of her situation. The very person she initially cast off because of his race is now the person that she values most.

“We ate, drank, played cards, and ate some more. It was the most relaxing, stress-free Thanksgiving I have ever had. I could stay at Anita’s forever.”

The morning after Thanksgiving, Jordyn thinks fondly of her time at Anita’s as one of the best Thanksgivings she has ever had. These thoughts, specifically the repetition of “ate,” emphasize how Anita’s home stands in contrast to Devonte's. While Devonte preaches Black empowerment, inclusion, and culture, Anita actually practices it, a fact that highlights the value of community and care as part of Jordyn’s identity development.

“On reflex, I touch my hair, forgetting most of it is gone, and it feels like I’ve gone with it.”

Hair, which is often used as a symbol of transformation, becomes a metaphor for Jordyn’s development in the text. After she is assaulted by the other girls in the bathroom and her hair is cut, she changes, taking a stand for the first time and asserting her autonomy as she finally brings down Devonte. The loss of her hair emphasizes that this change will also result in loss, as she loses her connection to the community of which she has become part, yet she finally has the opportunity to rebuild it in a healthy way.

“My neck is on fire and I think of the way Nick avoids questions. ‘Can you tell me what it means?’

Devonte gives me a dead-eyed stare and I’m almost positive he can read my mind. He sits on my bed, patting the space next to him. It takes me a moment to unfreeze my limbs to join him.

‘It means,’ he starts. ‘Kings weren’t mean to starve. They were meant for riches.’

Principle number eleven: Show respect. Never say, ‘You’re wrong.’”

Devonte and Jordyn discuss the quote she first heard from Kevin—“Lions are not concerned with the opinions of sheep” (328)—an allusion to the television show Game of Thrones. It ties Devonte to the character of Tywin Lannister, who mistakenly believes he has complete control over the kingdom, an assumption that results in his death. This idea reflects the eventual origin of Devonte’s downfall, as his arrogance blinds him to possible betrayal by Jordyn. Additionally, his misinterpretation emphasizes his arrogance: He believes that he is “meant for riches,” even when it is clear that people have turned on him.

“Spring at Frazier brings a different kind of energy. A change in the air mixed with the pollen and heat, the thrill of something new. The cherry blossoms are blooming puffs of white and pink, the sky powder blue. The euphoric rush tackles everyone on campus with a blissful high.”

The changing season is a metaphor for the renewal and rebirth that Jordyn has undergone after the events of the novel. She has acknowledged her grief, achieved her revenge, and formed a new relationship with Nick. This metaphor gives hope for Jordyn’s character, implying that she will find the belonging she sought at Frazier without her unresolved grief over Kevin holding her back.