Archive · 26 Aug 2026
Why Paula Hawkins’s Women Cannot Be Fully Trusted
Paula Hawkins writes stories about women whose accounts may not be completely reliable.
Sometimes they forget things or remember them incorrectly.
Sometimes shame makes them change what they say.
Other people may also tell a different story about them.
Hearing those outside opinions can make a woman doubt her own memory.
This means the important question is not only whether she is telling the truth.
It is also why the truth is difficult for her to explain.
In these stories, reputation can seem stronger than what really happened.
Paula Hawkins’s female characters are often presented as unreliable narrators.
The central question is why these women cannot, will not, or do not know how to tell the complete truth.
Memory failure can affect how a woman recounts events.
Shame may cause a woman to alter or omit parts of her story.
Social reputation and other people’s judgments can become more influential than reality.
- Who
- Paula Hawkins and the women featured in her writing.
- What
- An examination of why Hawkins’s female characters may not tell, cannot tell, or do not know the complete truth.
- Why
- Their accounts may be shaped by failing memory, shame, outside judgments, self-doubt, and reputation.
- Author
- Paula Hawkins
- Central subject
- Women whose accounts may be incomplete or unreliable
- Memory
- Memory can fail and affect a woman’s story
- Shame
- Shame can edit or alter an account
- Outside influence
- Other people can impose their version of events
- Reputation
- Reputation can become more powerful than reality