Wrecked

“That girl is way stronger than she looks.” 

Though Jenny is often referred to as mouse-like, quiet and studious, Haley observes her being “stronger than she looks” early on in the novel, hinting at the strength that Jenny will have to successfully navigate the investigation. Jenny’s strength appears clearly much later in the narrative, as she begins to speak up for herself more often, both to her peers, faculty at the college, and finally her own parents. 

“The dusky air outside the house is deceptively still. It is the silence before the starting gun. The final breath before the plunge.” 

Through the use of italicized excerpts describing the night of the party at Conundrum House, Padian expertly captures the mood on college campuses as students get ready to celebrate the end of the week together. The anticipation that Padian describes in this section foreshadows that something more negative might happen. 

“Woman, you pretty much raped me last night. I’ve never seen you so…energetic.”

Early on in the novel Richard is characterized as having difficulty knowing the right thing to say, as well as justifying his less mature comments. In this case, he offends Carrie so badly as to end their relationship; she is too firm in her beliefs to accept his weak apology after this comment. This is also the impetus for Richard and Haley’s relationship, which is more successful because they are able to learn about the power of language together rather than being at an imbalance of understanding. 

“She was great. But this is college. It’s a freakin’ buffet!”

Jordan’s use of a “buffet” metaphor to describe how easy it is to have sex with women is indicative of his larger mental frameworks regarding how to approach sexual romantic relationships. Padian illustrates Jordan’s thinking early on in the novel to help readers easily see how his dysfunction could lead to behavior like assaulting someone; Jordan thinks of women more as objects, like food, than as people.

“If I’m asked what you told me […] I’m not going to lie.” 

Though it takes a long time for Richard to fully support Haley and Jenny’s side of the investigation, Padian portrays Richard as a young man who has integrity even in the earlier scenes of the novel. When Jordan tries to get Richard to lie for him, Richard repeatedly asserts his unwillingness to do so. At his core, Richard wants to be seen as an honest, good person; this allows him to learn and grow over the course of the novel as he works out what the right thing to do is.

“Another meeting of the Victim’s Support Club. When did my room become headquarters?” 

Over the course of the investigation, Haley oscillates between quiet resentment over how much Jenny needs and a genuine sense of compassion for her roommate and friend. Even after this negative internal thought, Haley counters to herself that it’s important to support Jenny because of what the young woman has been through. Padian uses Haley’s internal narrative to bring to light how difficult it can be for young adults to be in a supportive role in cases like Jenny’s.

“Against my advice […] Jordan is going to challenge this charge. Which is going to be a real shitshow. I don’t want to tell you how poorly prepared colleges are to deal with this sort of thing.”

Padian only briefly directly addresses the lack of positive institutional systems for addressing sexual assault and rape cases. In this example, Jordan’s uncle highlights how unlikely it is that the college will be able to complete the investigation successfully, which is a common pattern across campuses. This both foreshadows the conclusion of the novel and highlights a larger issue that many young adults face in the unique social setting of a college campus. 

“If he were my son, his room would be packed up and we’d be halfway down the highway by now. He thinks he has a chance of winning this, and since nobody ever says no to him, his parents are letting him try.”

This important statement, made by Jordan’s uncle, highlights a core underlying tension of the social dynamics in the novel. He describes the connection between Jordan’s family’s wealth and his parents’ permissive attitudes towards the young man. Richard often notices this kind of issue because he himself comes from a family who doesn’t have as much money; through Richard’s lens, Padian highlights the complex ways that socioeconomic status impacts the social world of college campuses.

“You came together and left without her? Left without knowing where she was?”

Though Haley is often portrayed as somewhat naïve, in this quote, she asserts a central expectation of female friendship: that the other freshman girls should not have left Jenny alone at the party “without knowing” that she was okay. In this way, Haley shifts the blame for what happened to Jenny, to a small extent, on to the girls who left Jenny by herself, drunk, at a party with older students. This is an important aspect both of Haley’s own process of understanding what happened to Jenny as well as to Padian’s larger goals of illustrating the responsibilities that peers have to one another. 

“And I’m interested in us. In you. I like you.” 

One of the core underlying developments of the novel’s plot is the relationship between Haley and Richard. For both young people, this relationship is a critical learning experience: they are each growing a new understanding of how to be in a consensual, positive, and healthy romantic relationship. In this scene, Richard articulates out loud how he honestly feels towards Haley, showing some of his growth. 

“He’s petrified. All that swagger. Guy’s just a little chickenshit.” 

Richard comes to the realization that Jordan is not as confident and cool as he has portrayed himself to be. Many of the young adults in the novel struggle with their own insecurities and how they perceive their peers in relation to themselves. Though Richard never envies Jordan, this is an important turning point for Richard to be able to begin more critically examining Jordan’s actions and seeing through Jordan’s exterior. 

“I get him. He’s mad. He wants to intimidate me. But everyone else? They don’t know what happened? They don’t even know me!” 

Padian continues to highlight some of the less obvious social consequences that can happen for rape survivors on college campuses who choose to report their assault. As a quiet, almost friendless student, Jenny experiences extremely difficult social repercussions for reporting her rape: many students she doesn’t “even know” have judgments about her behavior, especially because they are hearing the story as gossip rather than from her. 

“If the investigator keeps you after, like he did me, just answer his questions. Keep it simple. When you tell him the same story I did, he’ll know it’s the truth and move on.” 

Throughout the novel, “the truth” remains a difficult thing to pin down. Richard and Haley wrestle with how to portray their version of events accurately while preserving their own self-interests, much like almost every other character besides Jenny. The question of how to ascertain the truth, then, is represented best by Dean Hunt’s character, who seems wholly interested in truly accessing what happened on the night in question. 

“He managed that all by himself. This strategy of his? Not answering questions? Complete fail. That dean is going to nail his ass. And not because of anything I said.” 

Despite his best efforts to avoid implication through the investigation, Jordan’s strategy to not answer any questions backfires by making him look more guilty to the dean. Unfortunately, this does not solve the problem of how to prove the truth. Richard is, however, able to save some social face by arguing to his peers that it is Jordan’s choices that have condemned him, not Richard’s. 

“They want to feel good, and that’s what the Doctor’s there for. How could he have missed it?” 

A supporting character, Brandon Exley represents many of the more toxic aspects of substance use culture on college campuses. Though he doesn’t play a direct role in Jenny’s rape, it is Exley’s propension for drinking that supports the party in the first place; Exley’s callous attitude towards the need to make people “feel good” is eventually highlighted as a very dysfunctional perspective, and the dean is able to get him to leave the school as a result.

“Stop keeping score. Just do you and it’ll all work out.” 

This advice from Gail to Haley comes at a critical time in Haley’s journey to understand herself better. Up until this point, Haley has spent much of her time comparing herself to others and allowing insecurity to influence her decisions; after this, Haley stands up for herself with more clarity and truly allows her personality to shine. This has a positive impact on almost everyone around her. 

“Well, what does that tell us? That silence means yes? That it’s okay to go for it until someone draws the line? I want to suggest something more positive. More affirmative. More sexy, even. How about ‘Yes Means Yes’?” 

At the whole school assembly, Matt Trainor describes a better vision of what consent culture might look like. This is a crucial moment in the novel and illustrates a key point of Padian’s text: young adults often have been raised and socialized to believe that “silence means yes” rather than a more positive or healthy vision of what consent could look like. Through Trainor’s assembly, Padian shows an example of what could be a positive shift in the social life on campus. 

“Culpability was not part of this young man’s worldview. It never occurred to him that he did anything wrong. Or that he was even capable of doing something wrong.” 

This powerful statement by Dean Hunt reveals one of Padian’s core critiques and messages of the novel. Though the dean isn’t explicitly referring to Jordan, this idea is reflected in Jordan’s actions and lack of consequences just as it is reflected in many cases like the fictional one described in Wrecked. For many young adults who have been raised not to be culpable for their own actions, having any consequences or accusations directed at them can feel extremely threatening. More importantly, this makes it highly unlikely that these young people can access an understanding of what they did “wrong.” 

“Then suddenly his face looms. His eyes are wide, but they don’t look into hers. He stares at something not-her, intent on something only he sees. She feels him reach, slide, beneath the dress, and pull her underwear down.” 

In one of the final italicized sections of the text, Padian shows what really happened between Jenny and Jordan, erasing any doubt that it was a violating act. Jenny, who is frozen in place, watches Jordan act as if he doesn’t even see her, “intent on something only he sees.” This powerful description is critical to revealing that Jenny has been telling the truth as well as showing the completely removed way that Jordan is able to commit such a terrible act. 

“Jordan has withdrawn from MacCallum, so the claim against him no longer exists.” 

Though many readers might be expecting a more positive resolution, Wrecked ends without Jordan getting a consequence beyond withdrawing from the college. On college campuses across the country, this kind of conclusion to rape or sexual assault cases is typical. Colleges and universities have little control over their investigative outcomes, and, as Jordan’s uncle points out earlier in the novel, are ill-equipped to deal with issues of legality. This often results in an outcome where students feel pressured to remove themselves from the campus, though this has negative repercussions for victims of these crimes. 

“Because he couldn’t corroborate a single thing Jenny had said. What’s more, her statement was inconsistent.”

The lack of evidence in cases like Jenny’s is one of the main reasons that it is so difficult to hold perpetrators accountable. Padian forces readers to understand this by withholding the conclusion of the case until the end of the novel, when readers have already developed a sense of empathy for Jenny’s character and the truth of her claims. Even for the dean, who Padian portrays as highly ethical, it is impossible to “corroborate” the statement, leading him to have to make a complicated choice about how to get any justice for Jenny. 

“No, not nothing! He’s gone. For whatever reason. You can walk around here feeling safe again. Wasn’t that the point?” 

Though Jenny disagrees with this statement, Haley feels clear about some of the positive results of Jordan’s withdrawal from the college. Haley’s assertion that “feeling safe again” is important, despite the fact that it isn’t what Jenny wants to hear, is a critical part of Haley’s own maturation. Haley is finally able to empathize with the intensity of Jenny’s feelings, where before she might have felt somewhat more confused or resentful.

“These are not her clothes, and she isn’t this girl. No. Not her. She begins to run.” 

After escaping Jordan’s room and starting to run home, Jenny begins feeling like she wants to deny what happened to her. This is an extremely common symptom displayed in rape survivors and highlights the internal conflict that Jenny has to resolve over the course of the case. At first, Jenny leans into her negative, dissociative feelings, but eventually is able to come into her own and demonstrate understanding that she is able to name what happened to her and have control over her own life and decisions.