Class

Throughout Reckless Girls, Hawkins thematically examines class. In Chapter 10, the author utilizes Brittany’s assessment of Eliza and Jake to explore the effects of socioeconomic class on individual personality. When the friends on the Susannah discover that other people are already on Meroe Island, they discuss their impressions of the strangers. Brittany thinks that they “seem cool. And laid-back. Which is kind of surprising because [she] assumed most rich people were uptight” (107). The author enacts this moment to suggest that it is anomalous for people with money to be genuine and unpretentious. Individuals who are members of the elite class are accustomed to using money to get what they want without having to be honest, polite, or rational.

Later on, the author continues her thematic delve into class, in Chapter 14, through the flashback to Eliza’s life as a teenager. While she is dating Jake, her...