Confessions on the 7:45

The narrative of Confessions on the 7:45 is persistently and explicitly distrustful of men. During their encounter on the titular train, Martha says to Selena, “Men. They’re so flawed, so broken aren’t they? They’ve screwed up the whole world” (37). At first, Selena wants to defend men, especially her sons, but then she thinks to herself: “In some sense—war, climate change, genocide, cults, pedophilia, rape, murder, most crime in general—men were responsible for a good portion of the world’s ills. They’d been running amok for millennia” (37). This exchange sets the tone for the general attitude toward men throughout the book, evoking not only interpersonal violence but also world issues. In this way, the book situates monstrous men as a symptom of violent patriarchy. In a society that enables misogynistic violence, most of the male characters are dangerous. However, this danger can be countered through solidarity between women and less toxic concepts of masculinity, embodied by the book’s positive male characters like Will, Paulo, Detective Crowe, and Hunter Ross.

These men are gentle, caring, and supportive, but others are depicted as manipulative and dangerous monsters. The word “monster” is deployed many times to describe Graham, Selena’s father, and Charlie’s father. Using this word gives the villains a hulking, dark, inhuman quality that darkens the mood and makes scenes with them more chilling. Pearl tells Selena that after watching him for a while, she has discovered that Graham is “a monster.” When Pearl asks Charlie about his father, he says that he was “[a] monster [...] Yes, really. He was a drunk, an abuser. A con man” (132). These descriptions are accompanied by unsettling depictions of violence in which these men target vulnerable women: their spouses, their subordinates at work, and sex workers. The book consistently aligns interpersonal violence with class and power disparities, emphasizing that a patriarchal society creates opportunities for men to brutalize and dehumanize women.

The resulting effect of this language is the idea that men have a capacity for darkness and violence. Even Charlie Finch, who treats Pearl and Gracie well, is not to be trusted. As a con artist, he makes a living manipulating lonely women and possibly murders them. Will, who is always there for Selena, may not even be wholly good; in the middle of the novel, Beth warns Selena to not rush into Will’s arms just because Graham is horrible. She reminds her that Will is “possessive. Controlling [...] He wanted to be [her] daddy” (250). Beth, who was also divorced from an unfaithful husband and refused to remarry, does not trust men at all, representing one strategy for protecting oneself from misogynistic violence. However, the text indicates that painting all men with a dark brush is not a real solution. Selena worries that Oliver and Stephen will follow in their father’s footsteps; Stephen, especially, is characterized as similar to Graham, less sensitive and observant than Oliver. However, the end of the novel is optimistic, implying that the positive male influences in the boys’ life can make them turn out different from their father.

Another solution presented by the text is decentering men in favor of solidarity between women. Pearl and Geneva give up Charlie’s lifestyle, burning down their old house and pursuing new, normal lives. They head into the future together, ready to support each other. Pearl consistently checks in on Selena when new details about the case emerge; she will not let her endure the situation alone. Cora is there to help Selena raise the boys, and Selena is living an independent life; Will is a friend, but she is slow to embrace him as a romantic partner. She is writing her life story so she can process it and control the narrative. It seems as though she needs to exorcise the male monsters from her past before she can think about a future that includes men.