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In attacking and killing Tom with a corkscrew, Rachel at confronts and overcomes the two major forces that is holding her from moving forward. Her failed marriage and drinking problem. This action sets her up to take control over her life by becoming sober and moving away.

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The trains, the one Rachel travels on everyday. They symbolize peoples life. Rachel travels back and forth everyday to go to her imaginary job, this symbolizes her life, she is not moving forward, she is not doing anything, she keeps holding on to her past.

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Alcohol, has a very important role in this novel. The characters always consume alcohol before doing something wrong. You could almost say that alcohol is seen as making a deal with the devil, because they often intentionally drink before doing something they know they will regret. Rachel drinks when she goes to Anna and Tom's house, Anna drinks before she looks through Toms things, and Scott when he beats up Rachel.

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2 th period

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Mistriss, Tom's new wife, and has a daughter.

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Megan's husband, trust issues, and is violent

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cheated on Rachel and Anna, violent, liar, and he is the murderer

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Scott's wife, lost her daughter, has many affairs, and is the victim

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Alcoholic, Toms exwife, and cannot cut the strings.

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The girl on the train evolves around three women's lifes, all connected in a way. The protagonist ist Rachel. Rachel is an alcoholic, lives with a roomate and hides that she dose not have a job anymore. Everyday she travels with the train, where she sees this perfect  couple from the window that she gets upsets with. A day when she gets way to drunk she wakes up the next morning with blood everywhere. She can only rember small clips from  yesterday, but she knows something bad happend in her presence. She finds out that Megan from the perfect couple went missing the night she had her blackout. trough the book we get to here about the investigation and hear  all  kinds of secrets people have, like Megan had a child that died, Rachel could not get pregnant, and Tom had an affair with Megan. At the end we find out that Tom was the murderer. He had been confronted by Megan about her pregnancy with his child, which he did not want anything to do with. It ends with Rachel and Megan kills Tom when he tries to attack Rachel.

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Whats the point ?
In "The girl on the train" there is no clear happy ending. Yes, Tom dies but what is left. Megan is still  dead, Scott is hurt after Rachel lied to him, Anna lost her husband and has no job and a baby that she does not trust other people to take care of, and Rachel ... she is still sort of an alcoholic, she has no friends, no one who loves her. So what was the point, what is this novel trying to tell us? the novel focuses on the three women, but the lead role goes to Rachel. We know that all of her bad decisions are made after the intake of alcohol. she is slowly loosing herself. We often her about her blackout, how Tom explained to her all the things she did that, she cannot not believe that SHE did. In the end she finds out that it was all lies, she did not heart Tom but the other way around. At the end you can say she finds herself, she knows the truth and Tom is not there anymore to hold her back. She can start her knew life, with her past - in the past fore good. You can also say Megan finds herself, before her death. She finally decides to not runaway from her situation (being pregnant). She wants to start a life with the Baby and Tom, She does not want to runaway anymore like she always did. Anna also finds herself in a way. Since the affair with John she had always loved that role of the mistress, being a secret. But in the end she is not that woman anymore, she is a wife and she is the one being cheated on. She realizes that she cannot live in the past (live in the good old days), but have to face her new role in life.

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Simile
"The holes in your life are permanent. You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mold yourself through the gaps" (94)
This text is explaining Megan and Rachel's situations. how the death of Megan's child Libby, and the information that Rachel can not get pregnant, will be permanent memories, that they will never escape. instead they have to grow around them like tree roots. Megan self-reinvents herself and becomes a new person with a new life, escaping the past. While Rachel goes to the comfort of alcohol to drown her misery.

Imagery
" There is a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks. Light-blue cloth -  a skirt, perhaps - jumbled up with something dirty white" (1)
The novel starts of with this descriptions. you could say that the author plays a trick on the reader. She lets us believe that this pile of clothes is important information to the novel's mystery, when it actually plays no role in the murder at all. the incredible part of this is that, the description actually has a important message that we see trough out the book and experience our self - jumping to conclusions and creating scenarios. Throughout the novel we see how Megan, Anna, and Rachel jump to conclusions or tries to create answers for their unanswered questions. We our self want to know who the killer is, But Paula Hawkins keeps playing tricks with us. Gives us information that makes us jump to conclusion and think we know who the killer and their motive is.

Simile
"You’re like one of those dogs, the unwanted ones that have been mistreated all their lives. You can kick them and kick them, but they’ll still come back to you, cringing and wagging their tails."(316)
This quote comes from Todd in the end of the novel. He is comparing Rachel to an unwanted weak dog. this comparison shatters Rachel vision of Todd. She new that she was pathetic and that he was frustrated with her. But she always had that hope about him, that deep down in his heart he still cared for her. She was holding on to that little hope, that everything could go back to where it was before. That was why she still called him her husband, and her house. But after Tom tells her how he really sees her, Rachel admits that even Tom her former husband sees no hope for her.

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Rachel (1)
"My mom used to tell me that I had an overactive imagination."
This quote/information about Rachel is one of the reasons of why she gets so involved in the murder investigation. Apart from her need to feel involved, she cannot stop thinking about what happened, she needs answers and tries in multiple ways to get or create them.
Megan (20)
I had a teacher at school who told me once that I was a mistress of self-reinvention.
Megan has trough her life started over multiple times. it is what creates many conflicts between her and Scott. She can never be satisfied and has to start something new, which ends up ruining her marriage when she admits to Scott about the affair with Tom. After the incident where Scott hearts Megan, she runs away and goes looking for Scott. So this quote/information plays a role in Megan's death.
Megan (131)
I can live without him, I can do without him just fine - but -I don't like to lose. It's not like me. None of this is like me. I don't get rejected.
This is an important quote that describes Megan. It is actually ends up being a part of why she got murdered. In the forest when Tom told her, he did not want to be a part of her life, she got rejected which lit a fire in her, and she then fought back. Tom tells Rachel later that Megan's cruel remarks was the last draw for him, he was not used to the women in his life would fight back.

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Confusing
Depressing
Untrustworthy
Protracted
Illusional

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The novel takes place in this century in Ashbury to Euston, London (England)