My Dark Vanessa

“‘Do the boys need whistles?’ I ask. Lucy and Deanna roll their eyes. ‘Why would boys need a whistle?’ Deanna asks. ‘Use your brain.’”

Vanessa asks if the male students at Browick will receive rape whistles, inviting the ridicule of older students in her dorm. Vanessa’s question characterizes Vanessa as an innocent at the start of her sophomore year, a quality that Strane identifies and uses to his own advantage. This moment in the novel also foreshadows the first time Strane engages in sex with Vanessa, which meets the legal definition of statutory rape due to Vanessa’s age. Establishes tone of foreboding and setting as an unsafe place.

“‘Do you mind if I use four-letter words?’ he asks. ‘I guess I should have gotten your permission first.’ He clasps his hands together, sarcastically sincere. ‘If my use of colorful language truly offends anyone here, speak now or forever hold your peace.’ No one, of course, says anything.”

Vanessa meets Strane, and in this moment, Strane seeks to equalize his standing with his students by using swear words. Strane treats his students as adults; because teens are in the liminal transition space between child and adult, the students are reluctant to seem square or immature in front of a charismatic adult like Strane. Strane’s casual and sarcastic treatment of consent foreshadows his slippery requests of sexual consent from Vanessa later in the novel when their physical relationship intensifies.

“‘I’m not giving you a hard time,’ she says, but we both know that’s not true. After a moment, she adds ‘I’m sorry. I just worry about you.’”

This passage captures Vanessa’s conflicted relationship with her mother. Vanessa’s mother often means well when she speaks with Vanessa about what she wants for Vanessa, but she usually alienates Vanessa with misplaced harshness.