58 pages • 1 hour read
Final Girls: A Novel
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Symbols & Motifs
The Secret Drawer
Quincy keeps a secret drawer in her apartment, which is first introduced in Chapter 2. This drawer is a symbol of her inner life, representing the parts of her identity that she wants to keep secret from Jeff. Quincy uses the drawer to hide the objects she’s stolen, like the cellphone of the au pair Quincy sees at the café. It is significant that Quincy sees the au pair as an alternate version of herself—one who hadn’t experienced the trauma of Pine Cottage—because it motivates her to take something valuable and personal from the au pair, signifying her dissatisfaction with the disparity between them.
When Tina breaks into the secret drawer, she effectively breaks into the part of Quincy’s identity that Jeff cannot access. This not only exposes Quincy’s kleptomania but also introduces tension between them. Quincy does not feel she cannot trust Tina. On the other hand, the knowledge of Quincy’s worst habits allows Tina to engage her anger in similar ways, such as shoplifting or fighting abusive men in Central Park.
When Quincy visits Lisa’s house, she correctly intuits that Lisa has a secret lockbox of her own. Where Quincy hides the fruits of her worst habits in her secret drawer, Lisa is revealed to have hidden her obsession with the Final Girls in hers, keeping separate folders on each of them. This reveals a concern for the Final Girls that goes much deeper than Quincy had expected. It also enables Quincy to look at herself from a different perspective, catalyzing her confrontation with her mother, Sheila.
The “Survivor” Tattoo
The “survivor” tattoo on Tina’s wrist is a motif for the themes of Solidarity in Survivorship and Women Reclaiming Agency in the Wake of Violence. Tina gets the tattoo as a way to own up her identity as a survivor. The tattoo’s visibility elicits pity from many of the patrons at the diner where she works.
When Quincy sees the tattoo, she is compelled to mimic it. In Chapter 20, after assaulting Rocky Ruiz in Central Park, Quincy uses the Montblanc pen Tina had stolen for her to write the word “survivor” on her wrist. This reaffirms the self-perception that she is a good person despite the bad things that she has done. The act resonates with Tina’s justification that their actions are a way of taking back what the world has taken from them.
Quincy ultimately gets her “survivor” tattoo at the end of the novel, once she has regained her repressed memories and realized the truth about Tina’s intentions. When she gets the tattoo, she not only affirms her identity as a Final Girl but affirms Tina’s impact on her. In this way, the tattoo also stands for Quincy’s solidarity with Tina and the other Final Girls.
Noir Films
Noir films are a recurring element in the relationship between Jeff and Quincy. Noir films typically deploy lies and secrets to complicate the relationships between men and women. In the context of Jeff and Quincy’s relationship, noir films are a symbol for the wall of secrecy that exists between them. Quincy understands that she cannot be entirely honest about her actions, even if they suggest something darker and dangerous lurking under the surface of the façade Quincy puts up for Jeff. In this way, Quincy not only aligns with the Final Girl trope, but with the femme fatale trope exhibited in some of the films the novel mentions, like Leave Her to Heaven (1945).
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By Riley Sager
