Rouge: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1, Chapter 6

Part 1, Chapter 7-Part 2

Part 3

Parts 4-5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Mirrors

Mirrors are a prominent and layered motif in Rouge. Initially, the mirror appears in Mira’s childhood memory of Noelle telling her the “Beautiful Maiden” bedtime story. Mira reflects on a vanity table with a three-paneled mirror Noelle gave her for Christmas: “It was enough to have to see yourself once, let alone three times, remember? It was enough to have to open your eyes and see yourself at all. But mother loved this mirror” (5). With this, mirrors represent both vanity and self-hate in the novel. They are entrancing for those who think they are beautiful and repellent for those who do not.

Mirrors become increasingly supernatural throughout the novel. Seth comes through the mirror to groom Mira and therefore relates to the theme of The Insidious Nature of the Beauty Industry. They are a passageway from Mira’s childhood innocence to adulthood; Mira shatters the mirror after poisoning Noelle with the rose dust and becomes permanently scarred by the falling glass shards, symbolizing this moment as a permanent loss of innocence and rift with her mother.

Another reference to mirrors occurs when Mira and Lake are talking after their third treatment. Neither woman can remember the word mirror and decide to be each other’s “glassthing.” Each tells the other she is beautiful, emphasizing the draw of others’ opinions. While both women have almost completely lost their sense of self in that moment, they still seek external validation as a stand-in for a mirror.

Red

The color red is a prevalent motif throughout the novel that emphasizes the close connection between beauty and injury. The novel’s title and the name of the skincare company, Rouge, is the French word for red. Red appears throughout the spa, from the woman in red to the red jars, red jellyfish, and red champagne. At the same time, Mira’s face becomes red when she uses her exfoliating acids, she mixes red rose petals into her mother’s red algae face cream to poison her, and the climax ends with Mira showered in broken glass, bleeding onto her bedroom floor.

Red is closely connected to Mira’s understanding of Noelle—her childhood memories of her mother often include “the red silk robe, the one you loved best” and the “pair of red shoes that matched. Satin, heeled, with puffs of red feathers on the toes—your favorites” (3). Noelle’s signature shade of lipstick is also bright red. Because many of Mira’s childhood memories center on these items, red is related to Mira’s desire to be like her mother, and she performs as Noelle when she puts on her shoes and makeup. Later, the red shoes guide her to La Maison de Méduse but try to prevent her from going down the stairs, and Noelle’s jellyfish is also red. Red therefore relates to the posthumous relationship between mother and daughter.

Mannequins

Mannequins symbolize soulless but beautiful figures. The first reference to mannequins is the ones Mira remembers Noelle putting in the window of Belle of the Ball:

The mannequins in the window did all the luring for her. The way they’d stare at you, through you, from behind the glass. Pointy white faces. Red lips curved in slight smiles […] All of them had Mother’s dark red hair. She’d put them in whimsical, sometimes sinister configurations (41).

The mannequins are both human and inhuman in this description. They are closely related to Noelle, given that they share her hair color, and she has an affinity for them. Mira anthropomorphizes the mannequins in this passage, characterizing them as luring people into the store and smiling. However, they have no agency, being placed into different configurations at Noelle’s whim. As the novel progresses and Mira has more treatments, she relates more closely to the mannequins. She “rescues” them from the back of the dress shop and begins talking to them, addressing them as her sisters and hearing them speak to her. Awad thus emphasizes the idea that Mira is becoming more “beautiful” but less human—more mannequin-like—because the treatments are gradually removing her soul. Both mannequins and those who have succumbed to Rouge treatments are soulless but attractive figures.