63 pages • 2 hours read
Ruth WareOne Perfect Couple
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Manipulation and Deceit Within Competitive Environments
From the novel’s outset, Lyla is aware that reality television focuses on constructing a narrative rather than recording occurrences in a straightforward way, and her knowledge that the competition footage will be unfairly edited influences her interactions with Nico and her fellow contestants. The theme of trust and twisting reality to suit an agenda takes on a different valence after the storm, as Conor attempts to consolidate control over the others, only for Lyla and the others to realize that they must engage in similar tactics to have any hope of returning home.
Lyla’s early conversations with Nico underscore their awareness that reality television often traffics in tropes. Nico is reluctant to tell Lyla that the show’s producer has crudely described her as “girl next door fuckable” (20), and he also deliberately conceals the fact that the competition structure will require him to partner with other women. This lie of omission implies that his ambition easily overrides his commitment to honesty when he stands to benefit from the deception. Similarly, Dan has no qualms about concealing his own sexual orientation for the sake of his career. At other junctures, Lyla becomes increasingly concerned with how her own behavior might be edited, and as a result, she forces herself to mask her anger with a veneer of calm and tries to avoid being perceived or portrayed as a “diva bitch” (88). Her self-editing reveals her attempt to avoid becoming a polarizing figure, as she is well aware that such a development might keep her on the island even longer.
The storm raises the stakes of the various contestants’ attempts at manipulation because they must now compete for access to increasingly scarcer resources, and in this context, they begin to rationalize their increasingly erratic behavior. For example, because Joel is emotionally fragile after Romi’s death, he allows himself to be persuaded that Conor’s decision to hide and control the water supply is entirely justified. As the novel progresses, Joel’s increasing sympathy for Conor’s viewpoint ultimately leads him to steal Santana’s insulin, breaking the trust between him and his housemates. Likewise, once Santana and the others realize that their survival depends on Conor’s death, they fully embrace the use of deception. Faced with the possibility that the camera footage intended for the show might endanger them, they realize that in the absence of audio, they can concoct an alternate version of events—just as the reality television genre already does. They therefore engage in full-on subterfuge by staging a mock-friendly toast with Conor as part of a broader plan to subdue him. As Lyla urges everyone in the group to “stick together” in order to survive, these words of apparent solidarity obscure her real intent, as in this context, her solidarity is with her co-conspirators, not with Conor. However, he lacks the knowledge to grasp the potential double meaning in her statement.
In the novel’s final act, Lyla realizes that their survival depends not only on their rescue but also on the successful manipulation of any potential audience, including law enforcement. As she tells the others, “We have to make it [appear] that Conor is a person that no one would want to hurt” (357). The interstitial episodes between full chapters are likewise designed to reveal this shift in strategy and morality. While the early interludes are factual radio broadcasts that reflect the group’s true feelings about their situation, later interludes feature passages from Zana’s fictionalized diary, which depicts a situation in which all the deaths are tragedies rather than the result of deliberate violence or murder. This deliberate shift in the narrative is designed to depict the women’s transformation from the subjects of a narrative to its authors, and the new “spin” of their portrayal also illustrates the brutal calculus behind their maneuver.
Survival Under Extreme Conditions
Transformations in the physical environment are key to Ware’s plot, as the suspense only truly builds once the island shifts from a romantic paradise to a dangerous wilderness. As the physical threats mount, Ware stresses the heavy toll that these issues take on the characters, and as the conflicts escalate, Lyla and her allies must reconsider their values, priorities, and relationships.
Soon after arrival, Lyla encounters several reminders of the precarious nature of their physical environment, for all its apparent luxury. As a scientist, she is struck by the mosquitos and the potential for dengue fever infection, and she also observes that the resort is untested, asking, “What happens if the generator gives out, or the desalination plant breaks down?” (92). These exact scenarios transpire after the storm, and Lyla’s first conversation with Conor after the disaster is an entirely practical one about the threat of dehydration. In this moment, he is portrayed as a useful ally in a crisis, and his responses falsely imply that he is aligned with Lyla’s focus on practical details. Later, however, Conor exploits these same structural problems to his advantage, and Lyla increasingly comes to suspect that he is violating his own rationing rules and drinking more water than his stringent standards would allow. As the dire circumstances on the island escalate, the survivors must face a combination of treachery and the many physical threats to their lives.
Led by the extreme events to consider murdering Conor in order to save themselves, Angel and Santana repeatedly work to convince Lyla that sedation alone will not work, as the supply of medication is far too limited. Angel argues that traditional morality is reserved for the life they once knew, not their current circumstances, and only Lyla struggles with the situational ethics of the scenario. Lyla recognizes that Santana’s anger is particularly stark, as the loss of her insulin is an even more immediate threat than the lack of water. Whereas Conor’s anger is usually designed to maintain control over others, his decision to withhold Santana’s insulin combines with his previous actions and indicates that he is perfectly willing to cause the deaths of others for the sake of his own gain. Angel and Santana’s fury is therefore rooted in their conviction of their right to survive. For all her doubts about actively killing Conor, Lyla comes to see her own survival as worth celebrating and encourages the others to do the same. Ultimately, the four women’s choices stand as an argument that in dire circumstances, morality often takes second place to the will to survive at any cost.
The Impact of Gender-Based Stereotypes
Lyla quickly discovers that reality TV is an inherently gendered form of entertainment that remains dependent on outdated stereotypes and assumptions about the behavior of both men and women. As the divided group proposes different visions for maintaining safety and order in the aftermath of the natural disaster, Lyla comes to realize that her underestimated strengths (and those of her fellow women) will prove crucial to the group’s survival and eventual rescue.
Stereotypical gender biases are immediately apparent in the interview process for the reality show when Baz callously describes Lyla as being “girl next door fuckable” (21). Nico tries to console her by saying that his assigned archetype of being the dream boyfriend for teenage girls is no more flattering, but the self-evident disparity in the two descriptions reveals that the entire production is designed to objectify its female contestants. On the island, Lyla falls prey to this worldview herself when she succumbs to peer pressure and frequently compares herself to the other women, finding them far more polished and conventionally attractive and much better at posing for the cameras. She dubs herself “monumentally naive” for neglecting to pack cosmetics as she watches the others fuss over their makeup between activities (111). Her discomfort with the entire process indicates her wider uncertainty in a world that judges her for the appearance of her body rather than the competence of her intellect. Lyla also realizes the men are not immune to this atmosphere, either, as Joel admits to Conor that he is anxious about becoming a target of mockery because of his bookishness. Likewise, Dan’s decision to conceal his sexual orientation in order to compete implies that the production’s sole focus on relationships between men and women would result in an unfair, anti-gay bias against him if he were to proceed as his authentic self.
The stereotypical trappings of toxic masculinity assert themselves in the crisis atmosphere after the storm, as Conor immediately seizes a leadership role and soon reveals his desire to dominate and control the entire group, to the detriment of everyone’s mental health and physical safety. For example, Conor reveals his controlling and treacherous nature when he unilaterally rations the food and tells the others that he is “letting” Angel eat more than usual after Bayer’s death. Lyla later learns from Santana that Conor has a history of dating younger women who are easier to control, and the others soon notice evidence that Conor physically abuses his girlfriend, Zana.
In a sharp contrast to Conor’s toxic masculinity, Dan’s defense of Santana and his anger over the theft of her insulin offers a counterpoint to this bleak vision, one in which masculinity is used to support others at any cost. Dan’s death makes Lyla realize that Joel likely took the insulin and that Conor murdered Dan, and as she returns to her habitually rational and more authentic self, she renounces the stereotypical role of “damsel in distress” and joins the other women in a reluctant alliance to kill Conor before he turns on them all. Similarly, Angel’s past experience as a survivor of intimate partner violence gives her a unique form of insight into their current situation, and, as a result, she also overcomes the passivity of her initial role and helps galvanize the group to decisive action in defiance of Conor’s gendered expectations.
In the novel’s climactic moment, when Lyla realizes that Zana comes to her rescue, it is clear that she has underestimated the younger woman, assuming that her frailty and vulnerability prevent her from taking charge of the situation. She later renounces her false impressions entirely, reflecting, “I hadn’t saved her. She had saved herself” (339). Zana and the others collaborate in their own rescue, reviving the radio battery and crafting a narrative of their time on the island that will save them all from police scrutiny. Whereas Conor’s vision of masculinity is rooted in individual dominance, the women’s choice to collaborate and trust one another allows them to survive and move on.
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By Ruth Ware
