66 pages • 2-hour read
The Scammer
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of disordered eating, substance use, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Tea
Tea symbolizes comfort, familiarity, and belonging for Jordyn, but it gradually becomes a tool of manipulation and coercion under Devonte’s influence. Initially associated with routine, tea reflects Jordyn’s longing for emotional safety following Kevin’s death. She drinks it each night, as she is teased by her roommates early on because she “can’t go to bed without having some tea” (22). When she moves in with Nick, she continues the ritual, and he brings her some each night after making it in the fraternity house. Additionally, as she revisits her last memory of Kevin twice in the text, she remembers him making her tea, deepening its meaning as a grounding habit at Frazier that allows her to feel connected to home and to her brother.
As the novel progresses, Devonte co-opts this symbol, transforming it into a means of asserting control. Tea becomes a primary part of Devonte’s ideological control. First, he brews his own “tea,” which, though unidentified in the text, is implied to contain a hallucinogen that causes the girls to have an out-of-body experience. Devonte uses Jordyn’s diminished capacity to attempt to reach Jordyn’s memories and secrets, insisting that she blame her parents and defining their strict control as abuse. He then uses the tea to enforce his beliefs about food purity and bodily control, insisting on its consumption while restricting other foods. By dictating when, how, and which tea Jordyn drinks, he manipulates her comforting ritual into an act of compliance. In this way, tea emphasizes the theme of The Struggle Between Belonging and Autonomy. Jordyn tries to use tea as a reminder of home and comfort, but Devonte strips her of her autonomy by replacing it with his own twisted version of it, creating a tension between tea’s former associations and the new representation of it that she is forced to accept.
By the novel’s end, however, Jordyn reclaims the act of drinking tea just as she reclaims her autonomy. In the final confrontation with Vanessa, Jordyn takes her own teacup and puts Devonte’s drugs into them, knowing that Vanessa will trade with her. This act underscores her understanding of Vanessa and her manipulative tactics, as she takes a tense confrontation and regains control of the tea ritual to finally overcome her.
The Dorm
The dorm functions as a symbol of both safety and independence for Jordyn, providing her with a place of belonging for the first time in her life. It initially serves as a protected space that is specifically designed to foster connection and growth with her fellow students at Frazier. While dorm rooms serve this purpose for most students, for Jordyn, it is particularly important because it allows her to be surrounded by other Black students after an upbringing in a predominantly white community. As they gossip, talk about their pasts, and make plans for their futures, their dorm becomes the ideal space for Jordyn to explore the culture she believes she has missed out on throughout her life.
Devonte’s gradual occupation of the dorm undermines these traits as the dorm comes to be a symbol of control and manipulation. His presence blurs boundaries between student life and external influence, turning a supposedly protected space at the college into a weapon for his ideological control. He positions himself as the dorm’s leader, brings other students into his following, and controls the aspects of everyone’s life within it. Jordyn is monitored, isolated, and, eventually, physically endangered, a process replicated by how her room is first investigated, then searched, then completely destroyed.
Ultimately, Jordyn’s dorm suite develops the theme of The Impact of Culture and Community on Identity Formation. Initially, it is the type of community that she desires, as it gives her the opportunity to connect with her suitemates. However, Devonte exposes the limits of institutional and surface belonging, capitalizing on the students’ immaturity and their desire to understand their culture and history. As the novel ends, Jordyn’s relationship with Nick and her insistence on remaining at Frazier emphasize her newfound understanding of community and expanding it beyond the dorm; she realizes that community is more about openness and personal connection than a physical space.
Surveillance and Observation
Surveillance and observation are a recurring motif in the novel, underscoring power, control, and fear and contributing to the development of the theme of the struggle between belonging and autonomy. For Jordyn, being watched results in anxiety and self-censorship, and Devonte and Vanessa use it as a method to enforce loyalty. Jordyn becomes increasingly aware of being watched as her involvement with Devonte deepens. Her movements are noticed, and her conversations and actions are reported back to Devonte, leaving her feeling isolated and hopeless in her efforts to escape his influence. At the same time, students spread rumors about her relationship with Nick that exclude her from FUSA and isolate her from the rest of campus, underscoring how she is observed in all aspects of her life at Frazier. While a sense of belonging is what Jordyn has craved her entire life, the community she has found also comes with being observed and judged by others at the university. Devonte’s actions illustrate how surveillance and observation shape Jordyn’s decision-making and her attempts at autonomy, and this oversight eventually becomes one of the catalysts for her to break away from his control.
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