Haunting Adeline

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 6

Chapters 7-12

Chapters 13-20

Chapters 21-26

Chapters 27-34

Chapters 35-42

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Distinction Between Consent and Arousal

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of violence, sexual assault, rape, stalking, child trafficking, and child sacrifice as well as references to domestic abuse, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

A critical theme in Haunting Adeline is Adeline’s struggle in identifying her role in the instances of sexual assault that she faces at Zade’s hands. She alternately feels that she is a willing participant, that she instigated Zade’s behavior, or that she is legitimately victimized by Zade. At the same time, Zade struggles to reconcile his passionate hatred of abusers while becoming an abuser himself. Adeline’s conflicted feelings follow a well-documented pattern among survivors of trauma and sexual assault, in which the victim often feels shame and guilt, as though they had done something to cause their own assault. The text attempts to reconcile these feelings through what is unique about Adeline: her arousal in dangerous and scary situations. Because Adeline is aroused by fear, Zade is able to use Adeline’s arousal during instances of sexual assault as justification for the assault, or even as an implied consent from Adeline during the assault. However, arousal is not consent, and, as in other dubcon novels (See: Background), this theme seems to rely on questioning what consent is and how one might consent without intending to.

It is not until late in the novel that Adeline says her sexual encounter with Zade “feels consensual,” and, even then, she is “not sure” if that is what she wants (380). Describing her own situation, she says: “It’s easier to play the victim when you’re not the mastermind behind all your bad decisions” (380), implying that she is the one manipulating Zade into assaulting her. According to Zade, this is an accurate assessment, as he claims throughout the novel that he cannot avoid assaulting Adeline, as though he feels a physical compulsion from her behavior and appearance that commands him to stalk and assault her. As he continues to assault Adeline, she begins to feel that Zade is correct, and that she is in some way responsible for his obsession with her. This dynamic mirrors that of Stockholm Syndrome, in which the victim, especially in cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking, takes the side of the abuser and feels grateful toward them. However, the main issue that Adeline faces is distinguishing arousal from consent, as she is almost always aroused with Zade, but she rarely consents to his actions or to the actions he forces her to perform.

The most notorious example of sexual assault in the novel is the scene in which Zade uses a gun to assault Adeline. When Adeline realizes what Zade is going to do, she begs him not to, saying explicitly: “Please, don’t do this” (184). However, Zade can see that Adeline is aroused, and, as he phrases to Jay later in the novel, he claims he can tell when a woman’s body “sings” for him, “even when her mouth tries to resist” (483). This is a clear reference to Adeline’s pleas for Zade to stop his assault, which he ignores because Adeline appears to be aroused. In fact, Zade does not assault Adeline while she is sleeping specifically because he cannot “watch her body’s reaction” (506) if she is asleep, pointing the line of consent, in Zade’s mind, at the point of physical arousal. It is important to keep in mind that Carlton, the author of the work, has since admitted that Zade does sexually assault Adeline, and Carlton specifies that the novel does not romanticize sexual assault.

The Balance of Morality in Determining Character

A frequently addressed theme in Haunting Adeline is the challenge of determining how a complex individual can be judged for their actions when they are not uniformly good or evil. Some characters, like Mark Williams and Daniel Boveri, are explicitly evil, with no redeeming qualities, and, at the same time, characters like Ruby, Jay, and Daya are generally considered good, with no instances of evil or immoral actions to influence a judgment on those characters. Adeline, too, seems to be largely good, as her only actions that might be considered immoral are regarding her perception of Zade as she navigates this exact challenge in determining whether Zade is good or evil. Zade, though, exists in a morally gray area, which is not gray by virtue of specific actions that may or may not be moral, but because he performs a number of grand, moral actions and a series of distinctly immoral actions. Because Zade sexually assaults Adeline after stalking her for weeks, then continues to sexually assault her until she gives him consent, all while saving women and children from human trafficking, the question remains of how one might begin to judge Zade morally as a character. He fits the character trope of an antihero, as someone who performs heroic acts, works for the greater good, and has a morally ambiguous dark side.

Daya phrases the dilemma of passing judgment on Zade, noting: “He stalks people for a living, so I suppose it’s no surprise that tendency has bled into his love life” (466), which contextualizes a discussion of Zade’s morality within the world of the novel. Ultimately, an argument can be made that some of Zade’s actions, such as murdering traffickers, are moral because he targets people who are established as inherently immoral and dangerous to society. Daya excuses Zade’s stalking because it is important for his job, which takes up most of his time and energy, again, essentially balancing the good of Zade’s work against the bad of his personal life. However, the issue of consent is not resolved, as Zade, Daya, and Adeline avoid that specific aspect of Zade’s actions whenever they try to pass judgment on him. This is an intentional omission in the text, as the issues of sexual assault uniquely apply to Zade and Adeline’s relationship in the context of the novel, leaving Zade’s ultimate judgment up to the reader. As the novel progresses, Zade’s presence becomes essential to Adeline’s well-being, as Daya notes, making his stalking a benefit to Adeline and further complicating a moral judgment of his behavior. The novel does not seem to encourage one judgment over another, but Haunting Adeline provides fuel for seeing Zade both as an immoral character and as a moral one, encouraging the reader to weigh Zade’s actions and find either a balance of morality, or to pass a definite judgment.

Performance as Deception

Throughout Haunting Adeline, characters often act in ways that run counter to their true nature, and the concept of a real or valid identity is problematized in a variety of scenarios. For characters like Mark Williams and Daniel Boveri, a performance of friendly confidence is necessary to further their political and criminal goals, amassing power while hiding their involvement with the Society. However, Zade and Adeline also mask their true selves in order to mix with the politicians and elites that run the Society, with Zade pretending to be a trafficker like Mark and Dan, and Adeline putting on performance of social skill despite her anxiety. In the case of Zade’s relationship with Adeline, though, the idea of putting on a pleasant performance for social acceptance is rejected in Zade’s attempts to woo Adeline. He claims that his violence and abuse toward Adeline is necessary in revealing who he really is, so as to avoid Adeline falling in love with an act. Each character performs with a specific purpose, and even Zade’s choice not to perform in a normative manner is a choice of performance that has a goal in mind.

In most interactions with Mark Williams, he is smiling, boisterous, and charismatic, and the only reason Zade suspects him of being a trafficker is the video of the ritual that shows Mark clearly. At Satan’s Affair, Mark greats Adeline and Daya with an excited smile, later extending the same smile to Zade. When Zade confronts Mark after overhearing Mark’s plan to kidnap Adeline, though, Mark laughs, sounding “cracked and broken” (366), just as his performance or mask is cracked by the exposure of his real nature as a trafficker. As soon as Zade gets Mark and his associates in a room, Mark’s mask cracks further as he blames all his crimes on his associates, begging Zade to let him live. Mark’s performance operates in direct contrast to Zade’s behavior with Adeline, as, though both Mark and Zade are abusers, Zade is blatant in his abuse of Adeline. He does not hide his intentions behind a fake smile or forced charisma, instead telling Adeline exactly what his plans are, including assault. As Zade notes, he could have asked Adeline on a date and given her “a pretty fake smile” (229), but he would be lying to her about himself. He comments that people “don’t need to decorate themselves in gory make-up” (226) to be scary since it is “the darkness that lurks beneath the surface” that is truly frightening, and he is showing that darkness to Adeline from the beginning. Though this does not serve as an excuse for abusing Adeline, it emphasizes the idea that performances are deceptive, and, though Zade’s actions are violent, it is more accurate to his true self than Mark’s mask of pleasantries.