Unfriended

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-22

Chapters 23-34

Chapters 35-45

Chapters 46-57

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Big Pond

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes bullying, anti-fat bias, suicide, and stigmatizing language about mental health.

Big Pond symbolizes danger, and Vail advances the representation with the story of the boys who play on the pond. They fall into it and wind up in the hospital. Overwhelmed by the conflicts online and at school, Truly leaves school and goes to Big Pond. Her choice suggests that she’s considering harming herself. Hazel senses the precarity and sends Truly a flurry of texts. One text reads, “For now PLEASE ANSWER” (368). The all-capitals reinforce the danger and Hazel’s sense of urgency. Though there’s no explicit mention of self-harm or death by suicide, the pond’s history connects it to physical peril.

What pushes Truly to the pond is Natasha telling her, “If a person realizes he or she has been a betraying, lying, conniving douche […] it would be better for that person to just go ahead and die” (361). The “person” is Truly, and Natasha is coaxing Truly to die by suicide. Truly goes to the pond and writes, “Standing by the side of Big Pond. Never been this close to it before” (370-71). The implication is that Truly might jump in it. Yet Big Pond doesn’t hurt Truly. Instead, it extinguishes her phone. Truly throws it in the air and it lands in the water and disappears. In a sense, one harmful symbol takes out another harmful symbol, as the phone also causes critical damage.

The American Revolution

The American Revolution serves as a motif in Unfriended, illustrating how eighth-grade conflicts can feel as high-stakes and emotionally fraught as historical battles. The girls’ History Day project on Benedict Arnold, a general who betrayed the American forces by attempting to surrender West Point to the British, becomes a metaphor for shifting alliances and betrayals in their social lives. Truly and Natasha, in particular, experience the emotional turbulence of friendship as a battlefield, where trust is fragile and loyalties are tested.

The parallels between the American Revolution and eighth grade are reinforced by references to other historical figures such as Harry Truman and G. Gordon Liddy, underscoring the idea that social dynamics often involve schemes, betrayals, and power struggles. Truly reflects on these parallels when she quotes Truman: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog” (292). The comparison suggests that eighth grade can feel as cutthroat and isolating as the political world.

Benedict Arnold, however, remains the most resonant figure in the story. Truly summarizes his betrayal simply: “Basically, he wanted to be popular” (420). Her observation captures the core of the motif, showing that popularity, and the lengths people go to achieve it, can be a driving force in both history and adolescence. The American Revolution, therefore, becomes a lens through which the characters process the intensity of their experiences, elevating the seemingly mundane conflicts of middle school to something more universal and timeless.

The Popular Table

Vail regularly turns the popular table into “the Popular Table,” and the uppercase transforms the common noun into a proper noun, conveying the grandeur of the popular table. The table symbolizes stardom. A person becomes popular by sitting at the table. If they don’t sit at the table, then they’re not a part of the popular crowd, so they’re not popular. While the book mostly demystifies popularity, the table’s symbolism restores some of the mystique. Truly says, “The eighth graders who sit at the Popular Table are different. They’re practically celebrities” (18). The popular table is a distinct place, and it separates the students. The young people who sit at it are stars, while the people who don’t sit at it are regular people. Truly says, “Hazel and I sit at the slightly-nerdy-girl table” (18). Thus, Hazel and Truly are “slightly-nerdy girls.” The table a person sits at represents their label within the school’s social hierarchy. When Brooke tells Natasha to sit somewhere else, she’s saying that Natasha is no longer a welcome presence in the popular crowd. She doesn’t need to explicitly kick Natasha out of the group because her absence at the table represents her exile.

Not everyone wants to be famous, and not every student wants to sit at the popular table. Hazel doesn’t want to be popular: She wants Truly back. Marilicia doesn’t want to be popular again. When Natasha tries to rekindle their friendship, Marilicia mocks her. Marilicia informs Natasha, “You’re all trying so hard to blend in with each other, to be exactly alike, not left behind, not stand out, not be weird—that you’re a wreck” (308). Like celebrity culture, the popular crowd comes with destructive drama, so Marilicia wants to stay away from the adverse pressure and commotion.