Wrecked

The second protagonist of Wrecked, Richard, is a sophomore in college who is well-liked by his peers. Padian consistently portrays Richard as having conflicts with the ways that his friends and housemates take their wealth for granted, as well as their overuse of alcohol. In this way, Richard’s character centers an important tension present on many college campuses between young people who come from well-off families and young people whose parents “struggle to pay tuition” (85).

Over the course of the novel, Richard grows in his ability to think before he speaks as well as to understand consent in more nuanced ways. In the earliest chapters of Wrecked, Richard breaks up with Carrie over their disagreement over what is funny. Through Richard’s relationship with Haley, he must reassess his approach to language and redefine his relationships with the young men around him who are less respectful of women. Like Haley’s development, the changes to Richard’s personality over the course of the novel reflect larger patterns of growth that many young adults go through when they are in college. 

Though readers get very little sense of what Jenny thinks and feels from her perspective, Jenny remains one of the most important characters in Wrecked. The novel’s entire plot revolves around Jenny’s rape, and though Padian takes care to present multiple perspectives, the text seems sympathetic to Jenny from the beginning.

At the beginning of the novel, Jenny is like a “mouse” and primarily spends her time studying quietly. As events unfold and Jenny is challenged to stand up for herself, she begins to transition out of this more invisible self. She demonstrates her newfound confidence most clearly in her interactions with her parents towards the conclusion of the novel, as she ignores their requests and speaks her own mind. By including Jenny’s perspective, mainly through Haley’s lens, Padian ensures that readers can empathize with the survivor of a rape and see the kinds of emotional impacts that this kind of assault can have on a person.

Jordan is one of the most insidious characters in Wrecked; he is volatile, sneaky, and objectifies women. Though it isn’t confirmed that he raped Jenny until late in the novel, Padian ensures that readers don’t empathize with Jordan through her descriptions of him from Richard and Haley’s perspectives. For example, even before he knows about the rape case, Richard is surprised to see Jordan sober. Later in the novel, after the case has been mostly resolved, even Richard’s other housemates can’t get “a straight answer” (332) from him and seem disenchanted by his behavior. The italicized passages describe Jordan as behaving violently both by slamming “his hand against the door” (264) and then again when he forces himself on Jenny. These moments are among many where Padian crafts a clear picture of Jordan’s dysfunctional internal state; at some points, Padian hints that Jordan’s personality and choices are framed by his family’s wealth and the fact that he does not have to face consequences for his actions.