54 pages • 1 hour read
Ella BermanBefore We Were Innocent
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Secrets
Secrets abound within the narrative. Each of the main characters keep secrets from one another, and although Joni emerges as most antagonistic of the three, the broader thematic construct of the novel argues that personality is a composite, for no one is truly good or truly evil. Even the characters who embody a more ethically oriented values system withhold information from one another. For example, Bess keeps her plans to leave the island and travel to a secluded vacation spot with Theo a secret from Evangeline, while Evangeline does not tell Bess that Joni, not Theo, told her about this plan for a romantic side trip. Similarly, Joni and Bess hide the truth of their whereabouts on the night of Evangeline’s death secret for years after the fact. Joni keeps more secrets than any of the other characters, however, for she hides the fact that she was present on the night of Evangeline’s death, and in 2018, she never reveals what she knows about Willa’s death. In a broader sense, her entire adult persona hides the true nature of her identity, for she is not a sympathetic, altruistic health guru but a calculating, business-savvy media star and a master manipulator with a temper.
Secrets thus become one of the primary stressors highlighting The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendship, and in some ways, secrets cause each of the friendships depicted in this novel to unravel. The secret that Bess and Joni keep about the night of Evangeline’s death pulls at the fabric of their friendship over the years, and the secret that Joni will later ask Bess to keep about Willa’s death irreparably damages the remaining bond between the two. Secrets, as a motif, are therefore emblematic of the complexities of friendship and of its undoing.
“Time to Pretend” by MGMT
The song “Time to Pretend” was released by the band MGMT in 2007 and appears multiple times during the narrative, although it features most prominently when the girls dance to the song just hours before Evangeline falls to her death. The song—and its ironic title—therefore symbolize The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendship, the multifaceted nature of the coming-of-age process, and the ways in which judgements based on short, episodic moments can lead to broader mischaracterizations.
By the time the song “Time to Pretend” starts playing at the bar in Mykonos, the girls have already been drinking for many hours. This song, which was at the height of its popularity during the summer of 2008, is one of the girls’ favorites. Although they have heard, sung, and danced to it countless times, it feels particularly apt to Bess in this moment because it symbolizes the raw energy and potential that Bess, Joni, and Evangeline have at this point in their lives. By contrast, many of the other bar-goers will use this moment to characterize the girls as drunk and out of control. The girls will be viewed through “the prism” of their role in the tragedy, and this single episode of their lives will gain outsized importance and mischaracterize them as wild party-goers. In reality, the truth is much more complex, and the mischaracterizations perpetuated by media outlets hungry for true-crime content lie at the crux of this novel’s thematic project. The symbolism of this song thus depicts a moment of bonding through the shared experience of hedonistic pleasure, and it also speaks to the theme of True Crime and Media Distortion because this brief moment will be used as ill-considered “proof” of the girls’ problematic personalities.
Food
Food is symbolic of Evangeline’s controlling nature, a facet of her personality that reveals itself fully when the girls are alone together in Greece. Although Joni and Bess initially enjoy the relaxing nature of the island, they very quickly come to realize that Evangeline expects to remain in control of every activity, restaurant, and food choice. She imposes her own tastes and preferences on Joni and Bess, and they resent her need to dictate every aspect of their lives. Food therefore becomes an especially prominent symbol of this dynamic, highlighting Evangeline’s controlling nature, her privileged class position, and her implied disordered eating. Like her mother, Evangeline strictly limits her caloric intake, and as a result, the other girls are always hungry. Evangeline also has strong opinions about the local restaurants, and although she is vastly wealthier than Joni or Bess, she refuses to pay her share of the bill if she disapproves and sends her food back in an imperious manner that the other girls find snobby and inappropriate. Each of the three girls exhibits key imperfections, and Evangeline’s flaws are often revealed through her attitudes toward food.
