55 pages • 1 hour read
Holly JacksonThe Reappearance of Rachel Price
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A 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 Impact of Mistrust and Deception
As the novel’s mystery unfolds, both of Bel’s parents and the other trusted adults in her life intentionally try to mislead her, forcing her to follow the trail of evidence to find the truth so that she can ultimately decide for herself who to trust. For example, Rachel tries to deceive Bel about various aspects of her imprisonment even as Bel seeks to verify the truth of Rachel’s story. Due to the many inconsistencies in Rachel’s account, Bel begins to doubt her mother’s word and to view her as an unsafe and dangerous person with a sinister and unknown motive. At this point in the story, the author accordingly portrays Rachel’s presence as potentially malicious, thereby laying a red herring to create the false impression that Rachel is the villain of the tale.
Later, Bel comes to understand that Rachel’s dishonesty is intended to protect Bel from the truth of the Price family’s violent tendencies. Bel realizes that unlike Charlie’s lies, Rachel’s deceptions are motivated by love and a desire to shield her daughter from unpalatable truths. As Rachel explains to Bel during the novel’s climax, “It was so hard, lying to your face, like you were being punished too. But I didn’t think you’d accept the truth if I told you, you weren’t ready. These people raised you, you love them” (323). Ultimately, Bel can forgive Rachel’s lies because they are well-intentioned.
On the other hand, Bel realizes that Charlie, who has also been lying to her, is motivated by selfishness and a need to maintain control over her actions and perceptions. Bel finally recognizes Charlie’s tendency to gaslight her by fabricating things that she had either forgotten or neglected. As she states, “He tried to make me think I’d lost my mind, so I’d need him” (313). This gaslighting continued for years, but she begins to realize the truth when she finds Charlie’s Santa mug, which he accused either her or Rachel of breaking. By uncovering these smaller malicious lies of Charlie’s, Bel learns to accept the truth of his bigger deception: his choice to have Patrick kill Rachel and then pretend that she either left or was abducted. Bel is put in an extremely difficult situation when confronted with Charlie and Rachel’s conflicting versions of events, and although she is torn by the necessity of choosing “Mom or Dad. Her lies or his” (325), she ultimately realizes that Rachel is trustworthy, whereas Charlie is not.
Fear of Abandonment
Rachel’s mysterious disappearance traumatizes Bel, compelling her to treat everyone she knows with a guarded manner due to her core belief that she will be abandoned yet again by her friends and family. This internal conflict is illustrated in Bel’s attitude toward her beloved cousin, Carter, who is later revealed to be her sister. Despite their enduring bond, Bel still fears that Carter will eventually leave her, and this fear is reflected quite early in the novel when she teases Carter, saying, “I thought you’d at least wait until you got into Juilliard and fucked off to New York forever to forget about me” (26). Her lighthearted tone masks her very real hurt at the idea that Carter could ever “forget” her, and this assertion has its origins in Rachel’s disappearance, as is illustrated in her private reflection that “[e]veryone left, eventually. Wasn’t just Rachel Price. People were temporary” (26). Bel’s fear that Carter will abandon her is driven by Rachel Price’s disappearance from Bel’s life, and Bel concludes that abandonment is inevitable.
Furthermore, Bel’s strange habit of stealing items and hoarding them in a drawer reflects her need to exert some superficial form of control over her environment. Bel is reassured by the permanence of these items, which will stay where she leaves them, unlike her mother, who left her unaccountably. As Bel reflects upon viewing her stolen items, “Things couldn’t get up and leave like that” (47). In her mind, Charlie is the only safe and stable factor, and other people feel impermanent to Bel. For this reason, she soothes herself with the compulsive hoarding of objects that can be controlled and kept close.
In the past, Bel’s fear of abandonment was further exacerbated when Charlie left her in the back seat of the car for hours in order to pursue an illicit romantic tryst. Now, Charlie dismisses this experience as no more than a funny story, falsely telling Bel that she was only alone for 15 minutes. This lie is one of many that Charlie tells Bel over the years, and because of his own smaller abandonment during this incident, Bel associates the back seat of cars with a sense of fear and dread. This dynamic is illustrated early in the narrative when Bel refuses her father’s request to sit in the back seat.
Bel ultimately conquers her overwhelming Fear of Abandonment when she learns the true circumstances of her mother’s disappearance and realizes that Rachel never meant to abandon her. Bel’s healing after this pivotal revelation manifests in her newfound acceptance of various people’s departures, for she no longer fears that their absence will be permanent. For example, she bids farewell to her romantic interest, Ash, in a calm and composed manner, which contrasts with her earlier turmoil over his imminent return to England.
Similarly, Bel no longer feels distressed at the idea that Carter will one day leave to pursue her life goals, and it is clear that Rachel's assurance that she planned to take the young Bel with her now allows Bel to restructure her worldview and find a new sense of confidence and comfort. Symbolically, Bel decides to return the chess piece she took from the hotel, one of the many small items that she has stolen and hoarded. This choice illustrates her newfound ability to let things and people go because she now has the confidence to realize that those she loves will return to her in time, just as her mother did.
The Power of Instinct and Intuition
Throughout her investigation, Bel relies on her intuition to unpack her parents’ intricate web of lies. Even at the beginning of the novel, her instinctive sense that all is not well manifests as a visceral “knot” that is depicted as “growing and turning” in her gut (79). This description recurs often and indicates her intensifying concern and discomfort at the situation. Her suspicions begin with her father’s lukewarm and disconcerted reception of Rachel, and the protagonist is confused to realize that Charlie takes no joy in Rachel’s return and in fact appears to fear the repercussions that might ensue. Charlie’s instinctive fear is one of the author’s first clues to the truth that Charlie is ultimately responsible for Rachel’s long disappearance.
Bel’s instinct for picking lies and half-truths is further tested when she notices inconsistencies in Rachel’s story, and she acts on her suspicions to delve more deeply into the family’s past. The author also explicitly confirms the truth of Bel’s intuition as physical evidence supports her reinterpretation of events, as when Bel finds the CCTV footage of a woman who appears to be Rachel. As the narrative states, “The clothes meant something; a match lit under her, burning in her belly, proof enough that her gut feeling had been right all along” (144). The knot in Bel’s gut continues to operate as a physical manifestation of Bel’s instinct that something is not right, and this visceral reaction becomes a recurring motif.
Additionally, Bel’s realization of Charlie’s dishonesty grows as she discovers more discrepancies in his stories. After she learns that as a child, she was once left in the car outside Taco Bell for three hours, not 15 minutes, Bel’s mind instinctively goes to Charlie’s claims about her constant clumsiness, and she finally recognizes his consistent attempts to gaslight her. The knot in her gut continues to function as a physical manifestation of her powerful instincts, as when she discovers the intact mug that Charlie accused either her or Rachel of breaking. This moment confirms her suspicions and prompts her to reexamine her memories and determine that Charlie’s lies about her clumsiness and forgetfulness are a tactic to gaslight her into believing herself unreliable and incompetent, thereby increasing her reliance on him. Bel’s strong intuition for truth finally leads her to switch her allegiance from Charlie to Rachel.
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By Holly Jackson
