56 pages • 1 hour read
Maria PadianWrecked
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-21
Chapter 17 Summary: “Haley”
Before Chapter 17 begins, the italicized passage describes the group of freshman girls getting into the party with a group of boys, per the rules for entry.
Over breakfast, Haley is interrupted by Tamra, who exudes “entitlement you could practically smell” (151). Tamra begins questioning Haley about the case; Haley works hard to keep a blank face and to respond neutrally to each prying question. It turns out that Tamra is worried that she will get in trouble for providing the alcohol that Jenny drank. Haley responds to the questions without giving any information away, and then she pushes back, telling Tamra that she “broke the number one rule, the I-got-your-back-at-a-party-rule” (153) by leaving Jenny behind. As the conversation takes a more negative turn, Tamra pleads with Haley to get Jenny to take Tamra off the witness list, and Haley declines, suggesting that Tamra talk to Jenny herself. Haley does let slip that Jenny was raped, which Tamra briefly says she feels bad about.
Haley begins moving to exit the cafeteria, ending her conversation with Tamra. Before she can leave, a student who lives on the floor below her, Eric, finds her to ask if the guy who was looking for her found her. Apparently, he had been looking outside Haley’s room. Haley realizes that it might not have been Richard and begins running back to her room.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Richard”
The italicized passage before Chapter 18 describes Brandon and Tamra meeting at the party; Tamra’s face “lights” (158) up when they begin talking.
Richard and Haley meet for coffee. Before they begin seriously talking, Haley asks whether he came by her room. Richard says he didn’t, though he references the “forty thousand texts and voicemails” (160) that he left for her. They banter a little, and Richard launches into his apology, saying that he is “really sorry that [they’ve] ended up on opposite sides in somebody else’s war” (161), and he isn’t really on Jordan’s side.
In response to the apology, Haley gives a small sign of encouragement and explains her perspective. She explains how important it is that she’s not supposed to be talking about it as Jenny’s advisor, suggesting that they might not be able to date until after the case ends. Haley tells Richard about how someone wrote “Lying Bitch” on the whiteboard hanging on the door of her and Jenny’s room (164). As he realizes that Haley’s earlier question implies that she wondered if it was him, Richard gets angry. Though Haley apologizes, for Richard it is too much, and he gets up and leaves.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Haley”
The italicized passage before Chapter describes Brandon Exley serving Jenny a drink from the “plastic garbage can half-full of liquid” (165) at the party.
After Richard’s angry exit from the café, Haley feels like she might cry. Her day already started out badly with the message on the whiteboard, which Jenny had “freaked” out about (167). The two girls had discussed who might have left it and how they had gotten in; Haley had suggested reporting it, and Jenny had vehemently argued that she wouldn’t do it. Haley is in a terrible mood; as she is about to leave her seat at the café, Gail comes and sits across from her.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Richard”
Chapter 20 is preceded by a short passage describing Tamra and Marliese, who make their way to the middle of the dance floor as Exley watches.
Furious, Richard makes his way back to Taylor house and finds Jordan and Exley in the common area. After saying that he needs to speak to Jordan alone, Exley leaves with a rude comment. Richard confronts Jordan, asking whether Jordan went “to that girl’s room this morning” (174). This prompts an argument about the seriousness of the accusations; Jordan tries “to sound tough” (175), while Richard tries to say that he doesn’t want to be involved anymore. Richard gets up to leave and says that he won’t be attending the interview in a few days. Despite the fact that Jordan is angry and protests, he allows Richard to leave the room.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Haley”
Before Chapter 21, the passage describes Jenny getting refills of her drink because she is shy.
In the café, Gail asks Haley about what she was doing with Richard, reminding Haley that “he’s Carrie’s latest” (178). Gail cautions Haley that Carrie is somewhat possessive, but then she agrees to keep it a secret between them. Moving on, Gail checks in on how things are going, and Haley shares about the potential stalking. Gail immediately realizes that the whiteboard is connected to an online social platform, “The Board” (180), where someone has made an entire thread dedicated to talking about the “Lying Bitch” (181). Gail makes the decision to bring Haley to Carole Patterson’s office so that they can file a report, regardless of Jenny’s wishes.
Chapters 17-21 Analysis
Developmentally, college students are at an interesting in-between state between full maturity and their adolescent selves. In Wrecked, Padian portrays this complexity both through Richard and Haley as well as several of the supporting characters. Each of these characters illustrates some kind of challenge related to their age and growth, especially in terms of their relationships with other people, which is a hallmark element of young adult development. Haley and Richard serve as useful protagonists since both fall somewhere in the middle: they are focused on their own needs and wants yet also find themselves in supportive roles to their peers. In sharp contrast to the positive portrayal of the protagonists are characters like Jordan, Tamra, and Brandon Exley, each of whom seem more self-serving than community oriented. Padian also uses Richard’s class-based perspective to comment on the ways that each of these characters’ wealthy backgrounds affords them the ability to behave in more entitled ways.
Padian references the title of the novel, Wrecked, twice in this section of chapters, intentionally revealing the double meaning of the term. In the first mention, Haley describes Jenny as “wrecked” (145) as a result of the rape. In this moment, “wrecked” is used as a direct reference to a person’s psychological and physical well-being having been destroyed. The second instance illustrates the other possible meaning of the term, as Tamra describes how the whole group of young women were “pretty wrecked” (155) when they left the party at Conundrum House. In this sense, “wrecked” refers to how drunk they had been, in a common use of the phrase among young adults. Using “wrecked” to mean both things is a useful ploy on Padian’s part to hint to readers about some of the connections between alcohol use and sexual assault.
