38 pages • 1 hour read
Rachel HawkinsThe Wife Upstairs
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Escape from the Past and Self-Reinvention
Each of Hawkins’s three central characters seeks to escape the past. Eddie is simply embarrassed by his “thoroughly mediocre” origins, but Jane and Bea hide their true identities to distance themselves from the trauma and neglect of their pasts, which threaten to unravel their new lives. This conflict drives each of them to take drastic measures—often at the cost of others’ well-being—and to isolate themselves. By the end of the novel, they each learn that their pasts are inescapable and that true freedom only exists in human connection.
Before the novel even opens, Jane has adopted the name of her deceased foster sister to leave behind her traumatic history as Helen Burns. She takes on “the name of a dead girl [she] knew in a dead life” (27). However, by choosing this name, Jane actually further enmeshes herself within her past. The real Jane’s death haunts her. She befriends John Rivers, “a guy [she] met in a group home after [her] last foster situation ended badly” (34), and John takes advantage of Jane’s situation, blackmailing her in exchange for his silence. Initially, Jane gives in to John’s demands out of desperation. It’s only when Eddie urges Jane to resist John’s relentless demands that is inspired to change. She stands up to John, confronts her past, and is rewarded with an inheritance that guarantees her freedom.
Bea too adopts a new name to distance herself from her neglectful family. Her given name, Bertha, serves as a reminder of her mother, who calls her “Bertha-Bear” into adulthood. Bertha becomes Bea through her relationship with Blanche Ingraham, the childhood friend who takes Bea under her wing at boarding school. Bea’s time at boarding school “changes everything—Ivy Ridge introduces her to a new life, introduces her to Blanche, but more importantly, it introduces her to a new version of herself” (359). Bea takes this new identity further when she invents a new history to serve as the foundation for her home décor company, Southern Manors. She leeches off Blanche’s affluent background, “papering parts of Blanche’s life over the less savory parts of hers, but she’d been in the habit for so long that it hardly registered anymore” (220). This act causes an irrevocable rift in their friendship that ultimately leads to Bea’s murder of Blanche.
The Dangers of Ambition
The desire to escape the past leads Jane, Eddie, and Bea to pursue social status and wealth. This ambition distracts them from forging true human connection and blinds them to the irreversible effects of their drive for power. Each of these journeys of blind ambition leads them down paths of self-destruction only mitigated by sacrifice.
The novel begins with Jane’s work as a dog walker in the Thornfield Estates community. Desperate to escape her poverty, Jane steals from her clients and attempts to maneuver her way into the Rochester household. Jane’s ambition blinds her to the danger that surrounds her when she chooses to move into Eddie’s home. She embroils herself in a murder and kidnapping plot that threatens the very safety and stability she craves. In the end, to survive the effects of her blind ambition, Jane must sacrifice the house and the dream it represents: The house burns down, and with it “the new life [she] had tried to build” (446). Jane must start over and does so by purchasing a small, less ostentatious cabin of her own.
Eddie describes his initial actions to force a meeting with Bea as “mercenary.” Strategically, he executes a plan to charm Bea and attach himself to her wealth and social standing. He is successful in his scheme and enjoys the fruits of Bea’s labor. However, ambition also leads Eddie to believe he can pursue relationships with both Jane and Bea. He calls himself “curious, impulsive, greedy” and blinds himself to the unsustainability of this arrangement (412). What results is Eddie’s death in the very panic room in which he imprisons Bea.
Hawkins defines Bea by her determination. Addicted to her work, Bea creates “a brand modeled after a certain lifestyle she hadn’t been born into but clawed her way toward just the same” (419). This undeterred pursuit of success leads Bea “to go out and make […] opportunities happen” (398). Such single-minded devotion to her goals dehumanizes Bea and blinds her to the severity of her brutal actions. To protect her reputation, she murders her mother. To avoid accountability for this heinous act, she murders Blanche. She lacks remorse and describes waiting “for months to feel bad about it, but in the end, all she’d felt was free” (432). She ultimately loses touch with reality, with only her imprisonment protecting her.
Instinct as a Tool for Survival
Although she lacks wealth and success throughout the novel, Jane wields her instinct as an invaluable tool for survival. In navigating the complex relationships within Thornfield Estates, she relies on her instinct to guide her. This guidance ultimately saves Jane from destruction and teaches her to trust herself.
Jane enters the Rochester home and finds herself embroiled in a battle for survival. She pursues the safety and stability she believes a marriage to Rochester will provide but quickly learns that this safety is not guaranteed. The more time she spends in Eddie’s home, the more she begins to sense that he is hiding something from her. This instinct leads her to initiate communication with Tripp Ingraham, the widowed husband of Blanche, and learn more about the night Blanche was murdered. Her instinct urges her to search Eddie’s home, discover Bea’s journal, and unlock the door to the panic room to find Bea inside. Through this experience, she realizes, “[A]ll those suspicions I had, all those bad feelings, they weren’t lying to me. My instincts were as sharp as they’d ever been” (420). Jane begins to trust herself.
Jane credits her instinct with leading her to the truth, but it also helps her maintain her composure throughout the ordeal. As Bea attempts to convince her of Eddie’s guilt, she senses Bea’s deception but hides it well. Her turbulent past has helped her get “good at thinking on [her] feet […] and getting past the shock as quickly as possible. That’s been a necessary survival skill” (420). This same talent for survival saves Jane in the final scenes within the Rochester home, as her “instinct kick[s] in” when the smoke alarm goes off (428). Jane saves herself. She learns that safety and stability cannot be found in material possessions but only within.
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