Credence

“They didn’t leave me a note. They dressed up. They put the dog out. They scheduled Mirai to come late this morning, instead of early. They didn’t leave me a note.”

One of the key features of Tiernan’s parents’ abuse of her was their stonewalling. Here, Tiernan is stung by the fact that the stonewalling continues beyond death. Tiernan’s emphasis on “they didn’t leave me a note” shows the extent of her pain and trauma at her parents’ refusal to talk to her; Douglas frames the realization with this sentence twice to show that Tiernan is stuck on this thought.

“No malls or caramel macchiatos close by.”

Jake snidely reminds Tiernan that his hometown is less extravagant than hers. He suggests that Tiernan is a wealthy, vapid person who cannot do without material amenities. Jake’s remark illustrates the presumptuousness of his nature and also foreshadows the trouble which will mark the beginning of his relationship with Tiernan.

“Such a strange feeling, something so big, reminding you that you’re small, but also reminding you that you’re part of a world full of magnificent things. What a great thing to be able to see—and relearn—every day.”

Tiernan’s reaction to the proximity of Chapel’s Peak illustrates the motif that nature has the power to transform. Douglas suggests that by immersing oneself in nature’s grandeur, a person can escape the noise in their own head and gain perspective. That Tiernan is able to make this observation right on the heels of a traumatic event foreshadows her potential for growth and change.

“Put the girl at the stove, because of course she doesn’t know how to ride a horse or shoot, right?”

Tiernan accurately reads the patriarchal gender dynamics in the house. Tiernan notes that Jake’s assumption that she would be better at making breakfast has nothing to do with her as a person and everything to do with his own biases.

“So much of the world replaces broken things or hires out to have it fixed, not wanting to trouble themselves to learn things on their own […]. She’s self-sufficient.”

While Jake can be controlling and presumptuous, one of his redeeming features is his ability to recognize and correct a mistake. After chiding Tiernan for interfering in his household, he realizes that Tiernan is actually deeply resourceful. Jake’s appreciation of Tiernan shows that they share similar values, which foreshadows Tiernan finding a sense of belonging with Jake and his family and vice versa.

“‘Stop!’ I shout, my pulse ringing in my ears. ‘Stop! Just stop!’

But he comes down on top of me, forcing me back down on the car.”

As this explicit quote shows, one of the features of Douglas’s writing is that it presents depictions of sexual assault. While Tiernan is aroused by Kaleb’s attack, the writing frames the attack itself as violent. It is clear from the terms “stop” and “forcing” that, despite Tiernan yelling for Kaleb to stop, he continues to violate her sense of agency and autonomy.

“Just cut him some slack […]. He’s always starving when he comes back from being in the woods this long.”

Noah’s callous words to Tiernan right after Kaleb attacked her show him in a poor light. He expects Tiernan, who was just assaulted by Kaleb, to go easy on Kaleb because he is sexually desperate after a spell in the woods. The remark is a reminder of how rape culture is condoned, with violent actions frequently trivialized. Noah’s use of the metaphor “starving” conveys his harmful view that Kaleb cannot control he desires.

“‘You’re a Van der Berg here,’ he shouts. ‘If you give that asshole a piece of ass, I swear to God I’ll make sure you don’t sit for a week.’”

Jake represents patriarchal control in the novel, which polices and monitors women’s bodies. This passage highlights the hypocrisy of the demand to control women’s sexual behavior. While Jake wants Tiernan to be inviolate from other men, he himself feels entitled to violate her by spanking her.

“Like any troglodyte male, you’re just dying to hit something.”

Tiernan’s terse remark to Kaleb shows that she is aware of the gender biases that drive the misogynistic behavior of the Van der Bergs. When the men bully Tiernan for Kaleb’s altercation with Terrance, Tiernan reminds Kaleb that he picked a fight not to defend her but to make a territorial claim and express his aggression. The word “troglodyte” conveys that this is an age-old problem.

“Because life is only happy when it’s shared.”

Douglas’s writing brings out the isolation and trauma the characters face, as this observation by Tiernan shows. Breaking down before Jake, Tiernan once again wonders to herself why her parents were so stingy with their love for her. By shutting her off from love, they have isolated her from living fully. Tiernan’s remark illustrates the theme of Isolation and Its Impact on Interpersonal Dynamics and also explains why she is so keen to share her life with a boisterous, vital group like the Van der Bergs.

“It’s not a place, Tiernan. It’s a feeling.”

Mirai’s wise remark strikes Tiernan deeply and illustrates the desire to belong. Home, as Mirai defines it, is not a “place” but a “feeling” of safety and warmth. This is why Tiernan has never been able to sleep well in her LA house—she is not at home here. Tiernan will return to Mirai’s comment when considering her feelings about Jake, Kaleb, and Noah, the statement existing as a litmus test for Tiernan’s feelings.

“Lust, learn, and love […]. My mother said the first boy—or man—is a crush. You think you love them, but what you really love is how they make you feel. It’s not love. It’s lust […] number two is where you finally learn what you’re capable of […]. ‘And number three?’

‘Love.’”

This passage illustrates that Tiernan Is already expressing her independence and autonomy on the Van der Berg household. Tiernan clarifies to Jake that she plans to gain sexual experience to negotiate romance better, rather than marry the first person she dates. Tiernan’s tale of the three relationships foreshadows her romances with the three Van der Berg men.

“People learn about themselves through sex. It’s true.”

Noah’s response to Tiernan’s story illustrates the text’s interlinked themes of The Role of Challenges in Self-Discovery and Female Sexuality and Patriarchal Control. The novel treats sexual behavior as an essential component of human interaction and learning, which is why Tiernan’s personal growth involves her expressing her sexuality.

“Sometimes people have to make their own mistakes and feel the pain.”

In another astute observation, Noah notes that making mistakes is essential to the process of growth. Jake wants Noah to toe the line and stay safe on the peak, but Noah knows that he must go out in the larger world and experience pain to evolve. The fact that Noah derives this lesson from Tiernan’s maxim about a woman’s three relationships shows a kinship between Tiernan and Noah.

“‘Yeah,’ I murmur sarcastically as I lift my bottle to my lips. ‘Because there’s no danger here whatsoever.’ Dad shoots me a look. Pretty sure he knows by now that it’s going to be a long fucking winter.”

Noah’s ironic comment to his father is an example of the use of dark humor in the novel. Tiernan remarks that she is in no danger of having sex because she won’t be able to go out on dates during the winter. Noah points out the obvious with sarcasm: The real sexual challenge to Tiernan is from within the home, not the world outside. This passage also exemplifies the casual tone with which Douglas conveys characters’ internal monologues; for example, Noah does not use the words “I am” before “[p]retty sure.” This casual tone suggests a level of intimacy, reinforcing the fact that Douglas is conveying Noah’s innermost thoughts.

“‘The notches go all the way to the buckle,’ I point out. ‘I’m flattered, but my waist isn’t that small.’ Noah leans in, whispering, ‘But your wrists are.’”

Noah often says frightening things to Tiernan, in particular implying a physical and sexual threat from Kaleb. While Noah positions himself as Tiernan’s friend, Tiernan notes that he can be bullying and harsh. The fact that he makes these remarks as quasi-jokes suggests that he is not as different from Kaleb as he likes to think.

“I look down at Tiernan, her body taking everything I’m giving, and I swear I want to swallow her whole. I’d forgotten what this felt like.

To actually want to make someone happy.”

Douglas uses the sexual behavior of characters to reveal important things about their character. Jake finally has sex with Tiernan, which reveals his lack of self-control and transgression of socially appropriate behavior. At the same time, his desire to please Tiernan shows that he genuinely cares for her. Nevertheless, his desire to “swallow” her underscores the exploitative nature of their sexual intimacy.

“Snowfall is like a secret. It’s whispers and firelight and searching for his warmth between the sheets at two a.m. when the rest of the house is asleep.”

A continuum runs between wild elements, uninhibited sexuality, and self-discovery in the text, as Tiernan’s observations during the season’s early snows indicate. Tiernan is keenly attuned to the nuances of the elements and revels in their sensorial associations and delights. This also shows that Tiernan is engaging with life instead of shutting herself off.

“We all acclimate. We learn, we resolve, we come around—it’s not that anything really gets easier or harder. We just get better at rolling with it. I’m not sure these men will be different because of me, but I’ll be different because of them.”

These lines how Tiernan’s intelligence and resourcefulness. While she can be seen as someone emotionally manipulated by the Van der Bergs, for Tiernan the men themselves constitute lessons in the literal and archetypal sense. She knows that dealing with them will help her grow and change, and in this sense, they are useful to her.

“It’s almost like something out of Beauty and the Beast. The Disney version.”

This quote is an example of how Douglas alludes to pop culture and creates literary references. When Tiernan discovers an old chest of drawers, she notes that it seems like it belongs in the Disney movie The Beauty and the Beast. The reference to the fairy tale alludes to the fact that Credence itself is a version of the classic tale of beauty taming the beast. However, unlike the Disney version, Douglas’s take is not sanitized or censored but filled with provocative situations.

“I know how to stop things I don’t want. I know how to say no, I tell Noah.

‘So?’

‘So, no,’ I reply.

I grab my book […] and brush past him, leaving the kitchen.”

Tiernan’s firm no to Noah constitutes a moment of character development, since she makes it clear that having sex with Jake was her conscious choice. Just because she had sex with Jake does not mean that she will have sex with Noah or Kaleb at this point in time. Tiernan’s statement asserts her agency, but it does not resolve the sexual assaults in the text. While Tiernan is in full control of her sexuality, the Van der Bergs do not always respect her autonomy, as Kaleb’s actions in particular show.

“I know you’re scared of me, and I know it’s my fault […] I did horrible things to you all on my own. I hate that I never did anything to get you to love me. You’ll never love me.”

In the dark romance genre, the male leads can often be anti-heroes and morally gray characters. Their unethical choices are often contextualized by past trauma. Kaleb certainly occupies this space, as his journal entries show. While his treatment of Tiernan has been poor and sometimes abusive, his journals show that he recognizes this fact. He is also resigned to the fact that Tiernan will never love him because of his actions. Kaleb’s words give the reader—and Tiernan—a deeper insight into his character.

“I wish they didn’t have to die for me to be given the opportunity to know myself.”

At the end of the novel, Tiernan comes to terms with both the death of her parents and their neglect of her, which shows how far she has come as a character. Tiernan recognizes that major events—like death—are sometimes needed to trigger self-discovery.