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Chapter 11
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obsession and Narration
Sex and Sexism
Isolation vs. Intimacy
Class, Exoticization, and Aspiration
Aging and Parenthood
Summary
Analysis
Back in the present, it is Easter weekend, and Barbara and Sheba are visiting Barbara’s sister Marjorie. Normally, Sheba would be with Polly and Ben, doing a big easter egg hunt in their garden. But Richard will not allow Sheba to spend holidays with their children, so instead she is here, at the seaside with Barbara.
Barbara has long tried to live vicariously through Sheba, inserting herself into her friend’s chaotic, familial warmth and embracing it as her own. But after the scandal, the roles are reversed, as Sheba increasingly steps into Barbara’s routines.
Active
Themes
Initially, Marjorie was hesitant to have Sheba in her home, as she and her husband are both extremely religious. But once Marjorie’s pastor convinces her to be a “friend to a sinner,” Marjorie is eager to host—and Sheba responds in kind, even going to church. Barbara scoffs at Sheba’s “Marie Antoinettish dabbling” in other people’s interests.
Though Marjorie seems taken in by Sheba’s newfound faith, Barbara sees it as just one more token of Sheba’s class privilege. Rather than seeking real solace in the church, Barbara muses, Sheba is treating it as a pastime—because, like the famous French queen, she is wealthy enough to be constantly in need of (and capable of finding) new entertainments.
Active
Themes
One day, when Sheba is off at church, Barbara looks through her bag (after all, she is “Sheba’s unofficial guardian”). Barbara is shocked to find an envelope with pornographic pictures of Sheba and Connolly inside. Barbara wonders if she should destroy the photos, as Sheba promised to discard all mementos of her relationship with Connolly. But to do so would reveal Barbara’s spying, so she leaves it alone.
Active
Themes
Barbara’s account has now arrived at December of 1997—a period that she informs readers is particularly shameful for her to recount. “No judgment you conceive,” Barbara warns her audience, “could possibly be harsher than that I have passed on myself.” Barbara promises that she is being detailed in her account because she wants to explain herself, not excuse herself.
Active
Themes
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December is difficult for both Sheba and Barbara. Connolly no longer seems to be invested in the affair, so Sheba begins writing him long letters and obsessing about whether he might be having sex with other women. Things are also going badly with Richard—they are always ostensibly fighting about Polly, but Sheba knows that part of her resentment stems from Richard’s failure to pick up on her affair.
Active
Themes
For Barbara, the main challenge of this period is Portia’s health, which is rapidly failing. After an especially bad vet appointment, Barbara drives to Sheba’s house, wanting comfort. But Sheba, distracted, explains that she is waiting for a call from Connolly, as they are supposed to meet that afternoon. To calm them both down, Barbara suggests that she and Sheba should stroke each other’s forearms. When Barbara touches her friend’s arm, Sheba pulls away, creeped out.
Active
Themes
Connolly calls, and Sheba announces that she will have to leave. Barbara protests, begging her friend to “please” stay just a while longer. In her distress, Barbara falls off a stool and hurts her hip, scaring Portia. But Sheba does not stay long enough to make sure Barbara can walk, instead running off “to catch her lover before he change[s] his mind.”
Active
Themes
