54 pages • 1 hour read
Ruth WareZero Days
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Jack's Engagement Ring
Jack’s ring is a symbol of the love between Jack and Gabe. It is somewhat unusual, made in the 1600s and “a bit wonky, a bit unique” (288), as Gabe said when he gave the ring to Jack years ago. He could have been describing the couple—Gabe is a former hacker and Jack is a former shoplifter, both of whom have become security experts. The ring’s origin and appearance are unexpected and out of the ordinary. The diamond isn’t “very big,” Gabe said, and he pointed out that it isn’t shaped as well as it could be because of the maker’s rudimentary tools. Likewise, Gabe and Jack might seem a little odd and different as a result of their pasts, jobs, and lifestyle. The ring has become part of who Jack is, literally and figuratively.
The ring is stuck on Jack’s finger, bruising and bloodying her knuckle when she removes it to give to Madrox. She thinks, “It hurt. Oh God, how could such a small thing hurt so much?” (288). It also hurts emotionally because Jack already lost Gabe, and now she loses something that symbolizes his understanding of and love for her. Gabe taught Jack what love is after Jeff abused and manipulated her. When Gabe was alive, it felt to Jack as though “it was him and [her] against the world” (10). Further, the fact that Jack spins her ring when she gets nervous, her “usual tic in moments of stress” (19), emphasizes the ring’s symbolism and its connection to Gabe.
Anteros Statue
The statue of Anteros where Jack sends Hel to meet Jeff symbolizes the strong love between Gabe and Jack. It was the meeting place for one of their earliest dates, and Jack mistakenly thought that the statue depicted Eros, Greek god of love. Gabe explained to her that the statue is actually Eros’s twin and companion, Anteros, god of requited love. Gabe said Eros was lonely and so the gods created Anteros to love him back. This meeting spot suggests that Jack and Gabe will love one another equally.
Jack and Gabe’s interaction at the statue establishes him as someone different from Jeff, who broke Jack’s trust and confused her about the nature of love and even her own lovability. Jack felt that she had loved Jeff when they were together, but he did not love her back. Meeting Gabe at the statue seemed to promise that she was safe with him and that he would never break her trust as Jeff had. Jack wonders, “Was there any sweeter omen?” (270). The statue and the conversation she and Gabe had under it sum up their relationship: They both loved and were loved, were both valued, were both important, and were equals in their relationship, like Eros and Anteros.
The Zero-Day
Jack describes a zero-day as “a way to hack into a device that hasn’t been fixed. One that the software developer doesn’t know about—hence the zero days. That’s how long the developer has had to fix it” (234). This is what Gabe found in Cole’s code, which Cole was bribed to introduce, and it symbolizes the differences between the two men. Their disparate responses to cybersecurity help to illuminate and define their characters.
Cole created a zero-day through which user information could be funneled to the (unnamed) criminal group paying him. He took money to knowingly put people in danger. Gabe, by contrast, wanted to protect people who could be harmed by the vulnerability. Cole admits to Jack that, when forced to choose between himself and Gabe, he chose to save himself (and frame Jack). He never takes responsibility for his unethical behavior, as his apology to Jack has more to do with Gabe’s refusal to do “the sensible thing” and take a bribe than with acknowledging wrongdoing (326). Cole even calls Gabe “puritanical” for this unwillingness to be bought.
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By Ruth Ware
