Summers at the Saint

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, child death, anti-gay bias, and death.

Most of the harmful events that happen at the Saint, including secrets and betrayal, are the consequence of greed. The wish to enrich oneself or fulfill an illicit sexual desire is behind most of the crimes and tragedies, past and present, that are exposed in the course of the book. In many instances, greed spurs a betrayal that has its own further consequences, often for ill.

Sexual covetousness is a subset of greed in the novel. Fred Eddings’s sexual assault of Shannon relies on his social standing and economic power. Yet, after he coerced her into having sex with him, Fred attempted to cover for his crime by calling Shannon a “gold-digger” (331), portraying himself as the target of her greed when he asked Andy Plankenhorn to draw up a contract to relieve Fred of responsibility for Shannon’s rape or her child. The consequence was that Shannon struggled, isolated as a single mother, and that Livvy grew up not knowing who her father was. Similarly, Ric’s vanity and love of attention, both as a young man and as an adult, led him into extramarital sexual relationships with bitter consequences.