40 pages • 1 hour read
Sally ThorneThe Hating Game
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A 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
Mirrors
Lucy describes the tenth-floor office as “[a] cube of glass, chrome, and black tile. You could pluck your eyebrows using any surface as a mirror—walls, floors, ceiling” (3). Reflections are everywhere. Lucy uses them to see what she looks like or spy on Joshua without him knowing. She describes Joshua’s desk as a mirror, “the male version of mine” (15).
The novel opens with Joshua and Lucy playing the Mirror Game, where they mimic one another’s movements. This sets up the idea that Josh and Lucy are going to be mirrors for each other throughout the book. They see each other clearly in ways others don’t. Joshua tells her: “You’re chronically addicted to making people adore you” (22). Lucy is embarrassed he notices this. She narrates: “His words sting. Joshua is like a mirror that shows me the bad parts of myself” (22). She considers that she’s kept herself small to avoid having to make mistakes.
When Joshua changes into casual clothes for the paintball game, she observes herself honestly: “I caught my reflection on the wall diagonal to him; a slack-jawed mask of idiotic lust” (89). As much as she hates him, she’s incredibly attracted. In the hotel room: “We make eye contact in the mirror and I let out a broken breath…I want to tell him, yes, rent this room for the rest of our lives. If I had more time, I could make you love me. The realization has me by the throat” (328). Once again, their reflection shows Lucy her truth. As much as she tries to resist it, she wants to be with Josh forever.
Strawberries
Lucy’s parents own the Sky Diamond Strawberry Farm, which is named after Lucy and where she grew up. She had an idyllic, loving childhood; now she eats strawberries when she’s homesick. Joshua’s nickname for Lucy is “Shortcake,” short for Strawberry Shortcake.
At first Joshua teases her about growing up on a farm, but strawberries increasingly represent their connection. For instance, she brings him strawberries to thank him for taking care of her when she’s sick.
At the end of the novel, Josh tells Lucy: “‘I love strawberries. I’m so lovesick, I eat them constantly,’” highlighting that strawberries have become a symbol of his affection (358).
Addiction
Once Lucy and Joshua kiss for the first time, she speaks of him like a drug: “Josh, why have you ruined me?” (158) and “[t]he Joshua I know is no longer enough” (167). Lucy feels ravenous for Joshua, and tries to get him to have sex with her before he’s ready. She tells the reader: “My insides are crawling. I feel like a magnet, shaking with the need to move. Is this how addicts feel?” (188).
Joshua, on the other hand, seems patient and in control. He doesn’t want them to have sex too soon because he knows Lucy might freak out if they do. Also, he wants them to begin a long-term relationship, not a one-night-stand. Lucy tells Joshua: “I feel like your Easter egg” (211), referring to how long he is making her wait, the way he delayed eating his Easter eggs as a child.
She surrenders to the addiction: “Once, a tiny eternity ago, I could lie on my couch like any other person […] But now that I’m an addict, I have to hang on to the cushions with my chipped fingernails to stop myself from standing up, putting shoes on, and running to Josh’s building. The effort is making me ache” (228). She can’t stay away from him; when he’s around her, she only wants more.
In the hotel at the wedding weekend, she thinks: “I want to OD on him. By the end of this weekend, I’ll be legless in a back alley, unable to say my own name” (257). She believes he’s heightened her addiction by delaying sexual gratification: “He wants to make sure I’m addicted to him” (258).
By the end of the novel, she recognizes that her addiction isn’t just to his body and their sexual connection: “[He’s] as addictive to talk to as he is to kiss” (353). They have moved from addiction to authentic love.
