42 pages • 1 hour read
Gilly MacmillanWhat She Knew
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Loss of Trust
The primary theme of What She Knew is the loss of trust. Over the course of the story, several characters experience a radical change of perspective when they realize the people that they trusted most aren’t reliable. Even more damaging than the disillusionment resulting from such a betrayal is the way in which this experience can alter a person’s life going forward.
The most obvious example of this principle is Ben himself. At the beginning of the book, the reader sees him as a happy, open little boy. He believes that the world is a safe place and the people in it are all good. His abduction and near death darken his perspective. “His mind still crouches in the woods on his own, cold to the core […] sensing the advance of a person who wants to drag him away, even though he’s covered his face with his hands, even though he cowers” (502-503).
To a lesser extent, other characters experience the same kind of disorientation as Ben does. Rachel assumes that a mother’s heartfelt plea during her press conference will result in compassion and assistance. Instead, she is pilloried in the press and vilified on social media. Her ability to trust is further violated when she learns that Nicky has concealed their shared family history. Even worse is Nicky’s confession that she envies Rachel for having a son and doesn’t think her sister deserves him. While the sisters attempt to patch up their shattered relationship at the end of the story, Rachel can never recapture her innocent belief in her sister.
The same is true of Jim when he struggles with his feelings for Emma. His insomnia and panic attacks don’t begin until after he rejects her. Emma functioned as Jim’s safe harbor in a stormy world. When he discovers that her emotional baggage induced her to commit an act of spiteful malice that compromised their entire investigation, his world implodes. Unlike Rachel, however, Jim doesn’t want to examine his feelings of betrayal. To the extent that he suppresses his heartbreak, he can’t move past it. The book offers some hope that this is possible when Jim finally concedes to Manelli that he will try.
Self-Doubt and Conviction
The conflict between self-doubt and conviction forms a major theme in the novel. Even though Rachel exhibits impulsive behavior at many points in the story, suggesting that she trusts her instincts, she always censures herself afterward. She agonizes over the question of whether she’s a fit mother for Ben. Every new attack in the press or on social media sends her spiraling into a state of self-recrimination.
Rachel judges herself harshly for letting Ben run ahead of her to the rope swing. She sees this as a sign of her self-absorption and neglect. Similarly, she blames her negative reaction whenever Ben returns from a visit with his father and step-mother. “Every time Ben had come here I’d festered at home, and questioned him afterward, mining him for information that I could use to paint their marriage, and especially Katrina, in a negative light” (204).
Rachel’s sense of self-doubt is further fueled by the reaction of the detectives on the investigation. They view her interference as a source of annoyance rather than the natural response of a frightened parent. Her behavior is also invalidated by people in the community who scrawl graffiti on her fence and hurl bricks through her window with the message “Bad Mother.”
Rachel receives plenty of help from everyone in viewing herself as defective. At the end of the novel, when she finally returns to fully trust her instincts instead of other people’s opinions, she’s able to solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance. The pivotal change occurs when she steals Joanna’s keys. Rachel is acting on the conviction that she’s right about the teacher, and everyone else is wrong.
The title What She Knew suggests that Rachel has achieved a hard-won belief in herself by the end of the novel. What she knew about herself and the rest of the world before Ben was abducted differs markedly from what she knows now. “I had not yet learned to use my intelligence, or to trust in my instincts. I see more clearly now, and I shall never make that mistake again” (516).
Appearance Determines Credibility
The novel explores the ways in which appearance can create credibility. From the very start, Rachel tells the reader about her wild, haggard demeanor during her press conference. Rather than presenting a polished and composed face to the world, she shows the ravages of genuine emotion. Much to her surprise, this presentation diminishes her credibility in the eyes of the public. Observers begin to attribute all sorts of sinister motives to Rachel simply because her image doesn’t match their expectations of a stable, albeit grieving, mother.
An impression of respectability can be conveyed simply by acting and dressing the part. Joanna is stylish, sympathetic, and articulate. She conveys the unspoken message that she is a trustworthy guardian of the young. In truth, she’s a sociopath capable of abducting and then abandoning a small child. Nicky appears to be a super mom. She runs her home and business efficiently, all the while harboring a dark secret about her family’s past and a misplaced envy toward her sister.
Jim, in large part, is attracted to Emma because of the calm image she projects. She never appears ruffled by anything. This allows Jim to feel secure and safe in her presence. He doesn’t have to deal with his own churning emotions because Emma functions as his safety valve. When he finds out just how troubled Emma really is, he can’t cope with the truth of her character and suffers a meltdown.
Jim, himself, is obsessed with projecting an image of competence and control. To maintain this image, he suppresses his own emotions even when doing so threatens his sanity. Ironically, his superficial appearance suffers a downturn when his insomnia and panic attacks take hold. Jim is ordered to seek counseling not only because he may be on the verge of a breakdown but also because he can no longer inspire confidence based on his seedy physical appearance.
