Betrayal

Betrayal is a major and important theme in the novel “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins. Betrayal in the novel, thematically, is the act of being disloyal and/or unfaithful. In “The Girl on the Train”, there is no shortage of betrayal, with many characters engaging in such behavior at various times.

The first instance of betrayal comes in the marriage between Rachel and Tom, when Tom cheats on Rachel with Anna. Rachel has long blamed herself for the affair, due to her inability to conceive a child, and her subsequent alcoholism. However, Tom’s betrayal of Rachel stems from much more than Rachel’s issues with alcohol. Tom is himself a sociopathic liar, doing whatever he wants and saying whatever he can to get what he desires. The worse that Rachel’s alcoholism becomes, the more Tom betrays their marriage by using her...