Girl On The Train Analysis

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkin is a novel known for its suspense, detail, and strong grip on the reader. With the use of imagery, the book comes to life, making the reader have both a clear picture of what the characters are thinking and also experience what they experience. For example, Rachel, the main character, suffers from severe depression and alcoholism. Throughout the book she describes summer days with “beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies, no one to play with, nothing to do. Living like this is harder in the summer when there is so much daylight, so little cover of darkness, when everyone is out and about, being flagrantly, aggressively happy. It’s exhausting, and it makes you feel bad if you’re not joining in” (Hawkin 3). Because

Rachel’s ex-husband, Tom, compares Rachel to a dog. Instead of just stating his issues with her, he described issues a dog would go through to really drive his point home. He states: “you’re like one of those dogs, the unwanted ones that have been mistreated all their lives. You can kick them and kick them, but they’ll still come back to you, cringing and wagging their tails. Begging. Hoping that this time it’ll be different, that this time they’ll do something right and you’ll love them. You’re just like that, aren’t you, Rach? You’re a dog” (Hawkin 316). By representing Rachel as dog in his head, he was able to greatly insult her with little difficulty as well as make it easier for readers to understand how he feels about her without blatantly stating it. Additionally, Hawkin uses symbolism when it comes to the weapon that Rachel uses for self-defense which eventually kills Tom: a screwdriver. Things were starting to get physical between Tom and Rachel at the very end of the book and Rachel waited for him around a corner and then “jamed the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck” (317). The corkscrew represents the divide created in their marriage by alcohol. Hawkin made sure that Rachel wasn’t going to use any random defense mechanism, and by implementing the corkscrew into the scene, the reader may be able to find the connection,