60 pages • 2 hours read
Penelope DouglasCorrupt
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A 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 Power and Limitations of Brotherhood
While Corrupt primarily focuses on the love story between Rika and Michael, it also focuses on the love—and hate—between both figurative and literal brothers. The Four Horsemen—comprised of Michael, Kai, Will, and Damon—function much more as a family than a friend group. Their closeness is one reason Michael resists his attraction for Rika for so long. He views her as the person who broke up his family and destroyed his brothers by sending them to prison: “My friends—my brothers—were dead on the inside, and the more I thought about what she’d done to them—to us—the more I wanted to rip her apart. I only hoped what we were about to do would bring them back, though” (198). Kai reveals that Michael was the one who came up with the idea of seeking revenge against Rika and that the promise of retribution sustained Will, Damon, and Kai through their prison sentences. Even when it is clear that Rika is innocent and the plan breaks apart, Michael still goes to great lengths to protect his found family. When Trevor tries to kill his friends, Michael has no trouble acting: “Something fell behind my eyes, and I didn’t blink. I might not have been able to choose between Rika’s life and the lives of my friends, but I had no trouble choosing between them and my brother” (426). Michael can make this choice because the love and support of his friends sustain Michael and make him a better person. Additionally, Kai’s gentle ribbing about his relationship with Rika ultimately encourages him to embrace a relationship with her, allowing him to move past his concerns and find true happiness.
The novel also explores the limitations of brotherhood, primarily through the characters of Damon and Trevor. Both these men embody violent misogyny, which seems to be a line that Michael, Will, and Kai cannot cross. While the Four Horsemen do speak negatively and crudely about women when they are together, few of them appreciate how extreme Damon’s views of women are. For example, on Devil’s Night, Damon’s “prank” is to film himself having sex with an underage girl. He brags about this sexual encounter, much to his friends’ disgust. Meanwhile, the crime that sends Will and Kai to prison is their decision to assault Emory Scott’s brother. Will is in love with Emory and is furious when he learns that she is being abused by her brother. He attacks him to seek vengeance for Emory’s pain. This is where Will and Kai differ from Damon: They commit violence to protect a woman, while Damon commits violence against a woman to find self-validation. Ultimately, what drives Damon apart from his friends is their decision not to condone all of his actions. He tells Rika on the boat that he plans to kill her and Michael because “[he’s] fucking angry, and [he’s] got nothing to lose. [He] already lost everything, because just like a woman does, [Rika] fucked everything up. [She] came between brothers” (409). This accusation aligns with a classic misogynist trope in which a woman is blamed for causing conflict between men. In reality, Damon’s problems are the result of his own actions.
Damon finds an ally in Michael’s biological brother, Trevor. Michael and Trevor have never gotten along, primarily due to their shared desire to be in a relationship with Rika. However, Trevor only appears to want to be with Rika because he wants to possess her, a fact that is evident throughout the novel as he constantly refers to her with possessive pronouns. Their father highlights this fact when talking about Rika’s fortune: “‘Absolutely not,’ he answered. ‘All of that will be your brother’s someday.’ I stilled. Trevor’s? Not Rika’s?” (203). Michael despises both men’s selfishness, but ultimately he hates his brother for not giving Rika the freedom to be her own person. When Trevor attempts to murder Rika, Michael kills him: “I watched as he struggled and tried to take in breaths, his body too weak from the blood loss to save himself and swim back up. And when he stopped moving, going still in the water, I closed my eyes and let my fists slowly uncurl” (426). It is only when his brother—and the threat he poses to Rika—is gone that Michael is finally able to relax and begin to enjoy life with his girlfriend and true brothers, Will and Kai. In the final chapters of the novel, Michael, Will, and Kai are much happier, emphasizing that brotherhood—like any intimate relationship—requires mutual investment.
Freedom Through Performativity
Throughout the novel, games and masks allow characters to shed their customary identities and try on new ones. In some cases, games and masks free characters to find their true selves. This function of the mask has long been associated with Halloween, and, in fact, many cultures have traditions of masked revelry in which the mask offers a degree of freedom from social strictures. The Four Horsemen wear masks during Devil’s Night to commit crimes without suffering the consequences, but the masks also allow them the freedom to get in touch with their desires. When Rika and Michael have sex for the first time, he is wearing his mask. Though Rika knows who he is in this scene, the mask allows him a degree of emotional protection from the vulnerability that comes with his genuine love for Rika. Rika, meanwhile, is turned on by fear, especially the fear she feels when she sees Michael in his mask: “Michael looked down, his vicious red mask—a replica of one of the deformed and scarred Army of Two masks from the video game—making my knees weak” (24). At first, Michael wears the mask with Rika because he is pretending he is in control of the situation. However, eventually, the mask allows him to realize his true desires: “I’d never been with a woman who fed my lust like she had. I’d never role-played, worn my mask, played games, or anything like that with anyone. Fuck, feed, kiss, lick, moan, pump, come, and repeat” (260). The mask allows Michael the freedom to understand—and ask for—what he wants.
Rika and Michael engage in a game of power dynamics throughout the novel. Often, these games involve bickering, daring each other to have sex in risky or public places, or engaging in group sex. Initially, Rika despises not understanding Michael’s game, but, once she forces herself to perform and participate in the game, she learns that she loves it: “The pushing and shoving, the head games and the mind-fucks…everything twisted me up and tore me down so much that when I finally got tired of stumbling and falling and backing down, I found that it felt really good to play” (228). Rika gains control of her sexuality through their games, which leads her to feel empowered. When playing a game, there is always a winner and a loser, which means there is always a skewed power dynamic. As a result, it is only when Rika and Michael move past the performance of playing a game—and enter into a world where they are truly equals in their relationship—that they find the freedom to be happy in their union. The novel ends with Michael finally being ready to commit to Rika, and Rika admitting she is happy because “He was always game. And thanks to his tutelage, now so was I. He’d corrupted me” (439). The games and masks are ultimately just a gateway for the characters’ long-lasting happiness.
Overcoming Fear and Victimhood to Find Empowerment
Almost all of the women in the novel experience some kind of victimhood either explicitly or implicitly. However, by the end of the novel, all are able to escape victimhood and become empowered to make their own choices.
Notably, all the women are prodded into victimhood by men. Rika’s mother only goes to rehab because Michael sends her there against her will (and it is suggested that her alcohol addiction is the result of her husband’s untimely death). Alex is looked down on by society because she is a sex worker, and Rika is forced to live in fear of the Four Horsemen, because they decided she needed to suffer and atone for crimes she did not commit. Additionally, the women are the recipients of near-constant sexual harassment from the men in the novel. The Four Horsemen talk crudely about the women, and Trevor describes Rika constantly as one of his possessions. This sexual harassment strips the women of any autonomy and makes them props for the men in their lives to use as they wish.
Despite all this abuse, the female characters are not willing to stay victims; they fight to escape this role and claim agency in their lives. Rika learns that the best way to overcome the Four Horsemen’s torture is to fight back: “And once…I was one of them. Once, I ran with them, kept up with them, and stood next to them. I wasn’t their victim, and I had their attention. I’d learned how to fight” (300). By becoming a fighter—physically attacking Damon with a knife—Rika transcends her previous victimhood. Soon after this altercation, the truth about who actually uploaded the videos is revealed, and Rika is cleared. Her name being cleared most likely would never have happened if she hadn’t finally stood up to Damon. Following this, Rika no longer relies on Michael to save her. She takes his words to heart: “You’re not a victim, and I’m not your savior. You handled it. End of story” (73). When Trevor attempts to murder Rika, it is not Michael who saves her; it is Rika herself. She cuts herself out of her bonds and swims to freedom, demonstrating that she does not need Michael to be happy; she chooses him as part of her happiness.
At the end of the novel, all the women have transcended their victim status: Rika’s mother is healthy and out of rehab, Alex is content with the independence sex work affords her, and Rika is on equal footing in her committed relationship with Michael. Going through fear and victimhood allows the women to find true empowerment and transform their lives.
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