48 pages • 1 hour read
Shari LapenaEveryone Here Is Lying: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Avery’s Jean Jacket
Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of child abuse, child abduction, and references to child molestation.
Avery’s jean jacket is a motif referencing the underlying web of lies in the town. William believes that if he sticks to his story—that he never saw Avery at home the day she disappeared—then the police will never know. However, Gully notices Avery’s jacket hung upon the top hook of their coat rack, where only an adult could reach, and concludes that someone must have been at home with her. The fact that William keeps lying about the day Avery disappeared reveals that William cares more about protecting Nora and his reputation than about finding Avery. Avery’s jacket hiding in plain sight signifies the way that William’s lies hide just beneath the surface of his well-crafted life, and the police only need to dig slightly to reveal all the ways that he has deceived his family. More broadly, the lie about the jean jacket extends to the neighborhood and town of Stanhope as a whole. Everyone is hiding under a thin veil of deception.
The Tree House
The tree house is a motif that signifies doubt and imaginary dangers. When Gully learns that Michael saw Derek and Avery in the tree house alone together, her mind jumps to the conclusion that Derek molested Avery. Since the tree house has a rope ladder that must be let down for anyone to get up, its privacy encourages her suspicion. Although Derek promises that he never touched Avery in the tree house, Alice cannot stop thinking about the possibility that Derek molested Avery after Gully’s suggestion. The tree house and what it represents haunts Alice until she decides to search the entire house, looking for any sign that Derek hurt Avery. Alice decides that knowing that her son is a murderer will be better than never knowing. Even though Alice satisfies herself through her search, the threat of what Derek did in the tree house never goes away, even after Avery returns. She is also haunted by the fact that she questioned Derek at all. Like the lie about the tree house, other rumors spread throughout the narrative that spark anger, stress, and other negative emotions in the townspeople.
The Breezes Motel
The Breezes Motel is a motif that represents infidelity and revenge, which affects multiple characters in the narrative. Since the motel lies on the outskirts of town, Nora and William believe that no one will ever discover their affair. However, they do not know that Al knows about their affair and sits in the parking lot watching them come and go. Since Nora and William use the motel for sex, Al later returns to the parking lot after Nora confesses to her infidelity, feeling overwhelmed with a desire to kill his wife. This shows the connection between sex and murder in the novel, since Marion also wants to commit murder once she learns about Nora and William’s affair. Lapena shows the connection between intimacy, jealousy, and rage in people’s minds until Marion and Al do not know where one emotion ends and the other begins. Al wants to dispose of Nora’s body in the dumpster of the motel because he has dehumanized her and believes that everyone should connect the motel to Nora’s actions.
Church
Church is a motif that represents guilt, shame, and adherence to rules. Although Nora does not know if she completely believes in God, she goes to church with Al every Sunday because he is an avid believer. Nora internalizes the guilt she learns from church toward the sin that she feels she has committed with William. She fears that she will go to hell because of what she has done, especially once Avery goes missing. Although the reasons behind Avery’s disappearance are not religious or supernatural, Nora’s insight about her actions related to the disappearance are correct: Marion does try to kill Avery because of the affair. From Al’s perspective, church also represents hypocrisy because he does not understand how Nora can sit in church and pretend to be a good person while she cheats on him. Al begins to question the morality of everyone in church because he realizes that if his wife can do it every week, there is no way of knowing how many other Christians sit in the pew and pretend to be holy while they also cheat on their spouses. Despite his church-going and criticism of Nora’s behavior, he also considers murdering his wife, showing how easily one may resort to violence or revenge and break the tenants of Christianity.
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By Shari Lapena
