The Girl on the Train

by

Paula Hawkins

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Anna Watson is one of the novel’s narrators and protagonists. As Tom Watson’s former mistress current wife, she feels a deep sense of anxiety and protectiveness when it comes to her marriage. Anna is threatened by Tom’s ex-wife Rachel’s proclivity for calling and texting Tom at all hours and showing up at their house at random. She fails to see the unearthed trauma and pain in Rachel’s odd behaviors, and instead dedicating herself to creating a kind of seal around her household. Anna, then, becomes a woman completely absorbed by motherhood: she overprotects her daughter, Evie, to the point of suffocation in order to distract herself from the larger problems in her life—including her inability to ever fully trust Tom. When her and Tom’s former nanny, the young and beautiful Megan Hipwell, goes missing, Anna becomes increasingly perturbed by the authorities’ failure to solve the disappearance. Anna practices tuning out her own emotions and intuitions and instead tries to conceive of Rachel as the only threat and enemy in her life. Anna refuses to acknowledge the darker truth about her life and her marriage—partly to protect herself and Evie and partly out of fear of ruining her status as a “perfect” wife and mother. Haughty, a bit self-obsessed, and totally preoccupied with image, Anna is—like Megan and Rachel—a deeply complicated and often unreliable narrator. Her fears of failing to embody society’s ideals of femininity impede her ability to know herself or take care of herself as fully as she could. Anna’s hatred of the train tracks which run just below her and Tom’s garden represents her fear of confronting the truth about her life and even creating the potential for escape from a situation that is quickly—and dangerously—spiraling out of control before her eyes. Anna is ultimately able to save herself from Tom, with Rachel’s help—yet what becomes of Anna and Evie after Tom’s death is uncertain.

Anna Watson Quotes in The Girl on the Train

The The Girl on the Train quotes below are all either spoken by Anna Watson or refer to Anna Watson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Society Theme Icon
).
Rachel: Five Quotes

I'm thinking about her now. I have to convince Scott that I knew her—a little, not a lot. That way, he'll believe me when I tell him that I saw her with another man. If I admit to lying right away, he'll never trust me. So I try to imagine what it would have been like to drop by the gallery, chat with her over a coffee. Does she drink coffee? We would talk about art, perhaps, or yoga, or our husbands. I don't know anything about art, I've never done yoga. I don't have a husband. And she betrayed hers.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: One Quotes

When I wake again, Tom's not at my side, but I can hear his footfalls on the stairs. He's singing, low and tuneless, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . ." I hadn't even thought about it earlier, I'd completely forgotten; I didn't think of anything but fetching my little girl and getting back to bed.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Tom Watson, Evie
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Two Quotes

We need to get away from here. We need to get away from her.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Rachel Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”, Evie
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Four Quotes

She held up a newspaper with the headline WAS MEGAN A CHILD KILLER? I was speechless. I just stared at it and, ridiculously, burst into tears. […] Diane glanced slyly up at me and asked, "Are you all right, sweetie?" She was enjoying it, I could tell.

I had to leave then, I couldn't stay. They were all being terribly concerned, saying how awful it must be for me, but I could see it on their faces: thinly disguised disapproval. How could you entrust your child to that monster? You must be the worst mother in the world.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Evie
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Six Quotes

I'm doing the things she did: drinking alone and snooping on him. The things she did and he hated. But recently—as recently as this morning—things have shifted. If he's going to lie, then I'm going to check up on him. That's a fair deal, isn't it?

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Rachel Watson, Tom Watson
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Nine Quotes

"I don't believe you," I say. "Why would he lie about that?"

"Because he lies about everything."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 279
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Nineteen Quotes

Tom's lips are moving, he's saying something to me, but I can't hear him. I watch him come, I watch him, and I don't move until he's almost upon me, and then I swing. I jam the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck.

His eyes widen as he falls without a sound. He raises his hands to his throat, his eyes on mine. He looks as though he's crying. I watch until I can't look any longer, then I turn my back on him. As the train goes past I can see faces in brightly lit windows, heads bent over books and phones, travellers warm and safe on their way home.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 317
Explanation and Analysis:
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Anna Watson Quotes in The Girl on the Train

The The Girl on the Train quotes below are all either spoken by Anna Watson or refer to Anna Watson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Society Theme Icon
).
Rachel: Five Quotes

I'm thinking about her now. I have to convince Scott that I knew her—a little, not a lot. That way, he'll believe me when I tell him that I saw her with another man. If I admit to lying right away, he'll never trust me. So I try to imagine what it would have been like to drop by the gallery, chat with her over a coffee. Does she drink coffee? We would talk about art, perhaps, or yoga, or our husbands. I don't know anything about art, I've never done yoga. I don't have a husband. And she betrayed hers.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: One Quotes

When I wake again, Tom's not at my side, but I can hear his footfalls on the stairs. He's singing, low and tuneless, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. . ." I hadn't even thought about it earlier, I'd completely forgotten; I didn't think of anything but fetching my little girl and getting back to bed.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Tom Watson, Evie
Page Number: 108
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Two Quotes

We need to get away from here. We need to get away from her.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Rachel Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”, Evie
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Four Quotes

She held up a newspaper with the headline WAS MEGAN A CHILD KILLER? I was speechless. I just stared at it and, ridiculously, burst into tears. […] Diane glanced slyly up at me and asked, "Are you all right, sweetie?" She was enjoying it, I could tell.

I had to leave then, I couldn't stay. They were all being terribly concerned, saying how awful it must be for me, but I could see it on their faces: thinly disguised disapproval. How could you entrust your child to that monster? You must be the worst mother in the world.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Evie
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Six Quotes

I'm doing the things she did: drinking alone and snooping on him. The things she did and he hated. But recently—as recently as this morning—things have shifted. If he's going to lie, then I'm going to check up on him. That's a fair deal, isn't it?

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Rachel Watson, Tom Watson
Page Number: 242
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Nine Quotes

"I don't believe you," I say. "Why would he lie about that?"

"Because he lies about everything."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 279
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Nineteen Quotes

Tom's lips are moving, he's saying something to me, but I can't hear him. I watch him come, I watch him, and I don't move until he's almost upon me, and then I swing. I jam the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck.

His eyes widen as he falls without a sound. He raises his hands to his throat, his eyes on mine. He looks as though he's crying. I watch until I can't look any longer, then I turn my back on him. As the train goes past I can see faces in brightly lit windows, heads bent over books and phones, travellers warm and safe on their way home.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 317
Explanation and Analysis: