Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Girl on the Train, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Women and Society
Gaslighting, Memory, Repression, and the Self
Addiction, Dependency, and Abuse
Secrets and Lies
Motherhood, Duty, and Care
Summary
Analysis
Sunday, August 18, 2013. Upstairs, Anna puts Evie down and tries to ignore the sounds of Tom beating Rachel. She tries to remind herself that what she wants, after all, is Rachel gone from their lives. After a few moments, Anna realizes that she can’t let Tom hurt Rachel anymore—she must do the right thing. She leaves Evie upstairs and returns to the kitchen, where Tom is at the table drinking a beer. Rachel is unconscious but alive on the floor. Anna sits with Tom. He promises her that they’ll move away when this is all over, and then he orders her back upstairs. Anna takes the portable phone from the hallway and sits at the bottom of the stairs, listening and waiting for the right moment. She hears Rachel stir and begin to cry.
Anna is faced with a tremendous and terrible choice here. She knows that Tom is responsible for Megan’s murder—and that he has ruined Rachel’s life as well. She must decide whether she is going to let Tom continue to jeopardize her and Evie’s safety because maintaining her marriage holds up the illusion of a perfect life—or whether she is going to resist Tom and stand up for herself, her daughter, and even Rachel.
Themes
