53 pages • 1 hour read
Noelle W. IhliAsk for Andrea
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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
The Nickname “the Needle”
Content Warning: This section discusses murder and violence against women.
When Meghan is first chatting with James on the dating app, she is charmed and excited about meeting him; she discusses her new romantic prospect with her friends, and they give him the nickname “the Needle.” The nickname is intended to refer to James as a “needle in a haystack” and allude to his status as a rare and valuable individual: a handsome, caring, and desirable man. However, the nickname has a dual meaning and symbolizes James’s cruel and deceptive tendencies. A needle is a potentially painful and dangerous object, and part of its danger stems from the fact that it is easy to miss until one has been stabbed. Like a needle in a haystack, James’s violent tendencies are easy to miss until it is too late. He buries his frightening qualities under a veneer of charm and normalcy to the extent that even his own wife doesn’t know that he is leading a double life.
As a phallic symbol, the needle also symbolizes the intersection of sexuality and danger; James’s violent desires and hatred of women are intermixed with the way he exploits sexuality and romance in order to pursue them. Women like Meghan and Brecia (as well as numerous others who chat and date James) are attracted to him because they want to find romance and excitement and because they find many of the other men they encounter to be lacking.
“Ask for Andrea” Sign
When Meghan goes on her fatal date with James, she catches sight of a small sign at the bar: The sign advises women who may be feeling uncomfortable while on a date to “ask for Andrea” (6). This code will signal that they are feeling unsafe and allow a staff member to intervene or call for help. An identical sign, located in a different bar, will later be the key to April protecting herself and her daughters. The sign symbolizes the complex and fragile ways in which women conspire to keep themselves and each other safe. The presence of these signs reveals that women are inherently in precarious positions while dating and that they are endangered often enough to make such a campaign useful. The use of the code further symbolizes the precarity of a woman once she realizes that she is unsafe: she often can’t simply stand up and leave without further endangering herself and instead has to find a furtive way to protect herself. Brecia’s murder occurs after she rejects James, which shows how dangerous a man can become if he feels slighted. When April makes up her mind to flee, she must do so with the utmost secrecy.
While the symbolism for why the sign exists is grim, the sign also points to The Power of Community Among Women in the face of danger. The sign advocates for the use of a verbal code as a way that women can notify one another when they need help, and this reflects how the three protagonists watch out for various female characters throughout the plot. Most significantly, they work vigilantly to protect April and her children. In their ghostly form, the three women don’t possess any physical ability to intervene, which reflects how women often won’t be able to defend themselves using physical strength. Instead, they rely on collaboration and trusting one another. The sign symbolizes how this approach is not always successful but functions as the best option in a dangerous world. The sign is visible on the night that Meghan meets James and doesn’t keep her safe; it does, however, later help April and her children.
Animals and the Natural World
Imagery of animals and the natural world reoccurs throughout the novel. A number of characters have pets, and Brecia bonds with Oscar, the cat owned by James and his family. During the time Meghan spends in the woods with her corpse, she observes a number of animals nearby. When April and her daughters are fleeing from the cabin, she tells them that a bear is pursuing them (in order to shield the children from the truth that their own father is hunting them). The animals seem to have an uncanny instinct about James and possibly the presence of the ghosts; Brecia comments that “[Oscar] [i]s the only one who seem[s] to have the sense to hate the man of the house as much as [she] d[oes]” (29). The motif of animals relates to how reason and logic largely fail within the world of the novel and how instinct and intuition prove to be more powerful (especially when it comes to detecting danger). James can deceive almost everyone because humans operate based on social constructions and norms, rather than raw instinct. Some of the animals depicted in the book are dangerous and destructive; both Skye’s and Meghan’s corpses end up being gruesomely mutilated by animals. However, animals are contrasted with the cold and unnecessary violence perpetrated by people like James.
The forest as a space of untamed wilderness, largely devoid of human presence, appears when Meghan spends a long stretch of time alone with her corpse in a remote area and also when April and her children must make their way through the woods on foot. In some ways, these wilderness spaces are sinister and dangerous, but ironically, the major source of danger comes from humans. The greatest danger that April and her children face in the woods is James, and the woods are actually a safer place for them than their own home. The wilderness spaces depicted in the novel contrast with the seemingly secure domestic spaces that turn out to be entirely deceptive. In the worlds of animals and the wilderness, there are predators and threats, but these are at least transparent and impersonal. It is only in the socially constructed world of humans that threats can be disguised, sinister, and rooted in cruelty.
