There Are No Saints
55 pages • 1-hour read
Sophie LarkThere Are No Saints
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Themes
Art as Creation and Destruction
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, child abuse, and emotional abuse.
Lark constructs a vision of artistic creation where acts of violence and beauty become indistinguishable, suggesting that true artistic expression may require embracing both creation and destruction as essential elements of transforming raw experience into meaningful art. Through the parallel journeys of Cole, Shaw, and Mara, the novel argues that the artistic process mirrors the violence of life, where beauty can emerge from brutality and meaning can crystallize from chaos.
The most literal manifestation of this theme appears in Cole’s sculpture Fragile Ego, which transforms the murdered Carl Danvers into gilded art. Cole files down human bones, dips them in gold, and arranges them into an aesthetically stunning piece that sells for $750,000. The sculpture’s creation represents the ultimate fusion of destruction and creation: Danvers’s death becomes the raw material for Cole’s artistic vision. Shaw similarly conflates violence with artistic expression, staging Erin’s drowned body to mirror Millais’s Ophelia. For both men, murder becomes a form of artistic practice, with human bodies serving as their preferred medium.
Mara’s artistic evolution demonstrates a different but equally complex relationship between destruction and creation. Her painting The Mercy of Men transforms her own traumatic experience into a transcendent work of art, suggesting that personal destruction can fuel artistic revelation. The painting depicts her bound and pierced body in a state of ecstatic suffering, converting her literal wounds into metaphorical ones that speak to the broader human experience. Her creation of The Best Night of My Life through a sexual performance deliberately filmed for Cole’s consumption represents another form of calculated self-destruction in service of art. She destroys her privacy and dignity to create something beautiful and provocative, weaponizing her own vulnerability as artistic material.
The novel’s exploration extends beyond individual artistic acts to examine the consuming nature of artistic obsession itself. Mara’s account of being “addicted to the sensation of minute, repetitive, and even torturous activity” mirrors Cole and Shaw’s destructive (and self-destructive) patterns (22), suggesting that the drive to create inevitably requires sacrifice. Lark ultimately presents art not as a noble pursuit separate from life’s darker impulses but as an arena where creation and destruction interweave in perpetual, dangerous harmony.
The Desire for Control Versus the Demands of Love
Lark interrogates the fundamental incompatibility between absolute control and genuine intimacy, demonstrating through Cole’s relationship with Mara how the compulsive need for dominance ultimately undermines the very connection it seeks to secure. The novel suggests that true love can only flourish alongside autonomy and mutual respect, even as it explores the appeal of surrender and domination within romantic dynamics.
Cole’s character embodies the extreme of control, extending from his meticulously ordered personal environment to his elaborate surveillance of Mara. His disdain for Shaw’s chaos reflects his belief that mastery over one’s surroundings (and oneself) equals mastery over one’s fate. This compulsion manifests most clearly in his monitoring of Mara through cameras and his systematic manipulation of her circumstances, from offering her studio space to orchestrating her artistic opportunities. Cole’s control operates through apparent generosity, making his dominance appear beneficent while ensuring Mara’s dependence. His fixation on her spontaneous acts, like the wine-stained dress that she transforms into tie-dye, reveals how her unpredictability both attracts and threatens him. The very qualities that draw him to Mara, her creativity and independence, are the ones he compulsively seeks to contain and direct.
Mara’s resistance to Cole’s control strategies creates the central tension that drives their relationship forward. For instance, her decision to bring Logan to the studio and create The Best Night of My Life represents a direct challenge to Cole’s assumption of ownership over her body and artistic expression. When she tells him, “[Y]ou don’t tell me what to do” (134), she establishes boundaries that force Cole to confront the limits of his power. These moments of defiance don’t destroy their connection but deepen it, underscoring that Mara’s refusal to be completely possessed is precisely what makes her valuable to Cole. Her agency becomes the very thing that validates his desire for her.
The novel’s resolution suggests that sustainable intimacy requires a delicate balance between yielding and asserting autonomy. Cole’s inherited pattern of control, stemming from his domineering upbringing, initially threatens to replicate the same toxic dynamics. However, Mara’s consistent resistance forces him to evolve beyond simple domination toward a more complex understanding of power exchange. Lark ultimately argues that love demands the courage to relinquish control, even as she acknowledges the intoxicating appeal of surrender when freely chosen.
Calculated Self-Destruction as a Strategy for Survival
Lark presents Mara’s seemingly reckless behavior as a survival strategy that subverts traditional narratives of victimhood, revealing how marginalized individuals may deliberately weaponize their own vulnerability to access power and opportunity within systems designed to exploit them. Through Mara’s calculated risks, the novel challenges conventional notions of self-preservation, suggesting that apparent self-destruction can paradoxically become a form of agency and advancement.
Mara’s decision to become increasingly involved with Cole despite her knowledge of his dangerous nature exemplifies this paradoxical strategy. Her statement “I shouldn’t like you now, but I do” demonstrates her clear-eyed assessment of the risks involved while simultaneously asserting her right to make choices that others might consider irrational (170). This calculated engagement with danger allows her to transform a position of apparent powerlessness into one of strategic advantage. By entering Cole’s world willingly rather than as a victim, she gains a measure of control over the terms of their interaction, advancing her career as an artist and (ultimately) tempering his most violent instincts.
The pattern repeats throughout Mara’s interactions with the art world, where she consistently leverages her vulnerability to gain access to opportunities otherwise beyond her reach. Her performance with Logan in the studio, deliberately filmed for Cole’s consumption, is an example. Though rash, the act serves multiple strategic purposes: It challenges Cole’s assumptions about his control over her, creates a piece of art, and forces him to confront his own desires. Her ability to retain agency even while being surveilled and manipulated demonstrates how apparent submission can mask sophisticated resistance.
Mara’s background as a survivor of childhood abuse provides crucial context for her relationship with danger. Having learned that safety is often an illusion, she has developed alternative survival skills that prioritize advancement over mere protection. Her willingness to enter dangerous situations stems not from recklessness but from a realistic assessment that progress often requires risk. When she tells Cole, “I don’t need your protection” (181), she rejects the limiting safety of powerlessness in favor of the dangerous potential of engagement. Lark ultimately suggests that for those born into vulnerable positions, traditional self-preservation strategies may prove inadequate, requiring instead the courage to transform vulnerability into a form of strategic power.
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