Maeve Fly

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, rape, graphic violence, death, illness, substance use, and cursing.

“You do not need a moral and noble story to do what you want. You do not first need to be a victim to become a monster.”

These words from Maeve, on the novel’s first page, serve as a manifesto for the book as a whole. Maeve critiques the kinds of stories in which people—typically men—become “monsters” only after they have built a perfect life and had it torn away from them. Such stories, Maeve argues, serve only to justify male violence. In defiance of this popular narrative, she chooses violence without justification.

“This cacti’s cuttings sell for something like twenty $ apiece online. Its sap, known as a milky latex, when ingested or brought into contact with the eyes, causes severe rashes, blindness, and death in pets and humans. Almost no one knows this. But I do.”

The duality of this plant, beautiful yet lethal, serves as a metaphor for The Duality of Human Nature. It reflects the duality within several of the characters like Maeve, Tallulah, and Gideon. Similar metaphors abound throughout the novel, including the beautiful but frightening dolls and the beautiful but thorny bougainvillea.

“Beyond that, I will live alone. The timer on my life as it exists now is ticking louder every day, culminating in that ultimate inevitability.”

Maeve’s description of her grandmother and Kate—and her belief that both will leave her soon—emphasizes the fear and anxiety that being alone causes her. Central to Maeve’s character throughout the text is her need to have someone who understands her, and the absence of such a figure will be a focal point of her unraveling in the novel’s conclusion.