Pretty Things

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of suicide.

The title of the book is Pretty Things, and Chapter 1 features Instagram captions that read: “Pretty things, so many pretty things in the world; and we get them all” (13). “Pretty things” symbolize materialism. At the nightclub, “there are girls in fur and designer silk, swanning and preening like exotic birds, and men with diamonds in their teeth” (13). The people at the club both consume pretty things and are themselves consumable, pretty things. Their glittering, glossy social media accounts submerge their humanity and transform them into a pretty things that other people want. As an Instagram influencer, Vanessa cannot talk about her sadness or desire to gulp Drano because such feelings are not pretty. As Vanessa explains, “the image you exude must be compelling, it must be brand-positive, it must be cohesive no matter how fractured your internal dialogue might be” (145). The symbolic “pretty things” underpin the theme of Truth Versus Storytelling; Vanessa shows how an influencer turns their life into a brand which presents them as a commodity.

Up close, the “pretty things” symbolism falls apart. As Ashley/Nina experiences Vanessa face-to-face, Vanessa stops representing a contemptible pretty thing.