The Secret Place

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying and gender discrimination.

The Secret Place bulletin board is a complex, shifting symbol that helps the author to explore The Tension Between Secrecy and Transparency. The school’s administration creates the board in part to keep the girls from engaging in online gossip and bullying. They acknowledge that adolescents need an anonymous outlet for their feelings, but they also use the board as a surveillance mechanism to keep control of the student body and monitor the girls for problematic or harmful behaviors. The girls cannot curse, threaten violence, or mock one another via the board without suffering immediate repercussions. Likewise, when something on the board does alarm the staff, they can increase their surveillance and attempt to intervene in the situation. In this way, the board helps both the girls and the school, and it also encourages the girls to tell their secrets, reinforcing the idea that secrets ultimately become burdens if they are not shared. In a religious school with doctrines that tout the value of confession and honesty, the board acclimates the girls to the idea that revealing secrets is healthier than keeping them.