57 pages • 1 hour read
Pucking Wild
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Symbols & Motifs
Running
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of ableism, sexual content, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Throughout Pucking Wild, Tess is described as running away from her problems—particularly her relationship with Ryan. This metaphor recurs so often that it becomes a joke among her friends and a motif in the novel, highlighting Tess’s desperation and fear in the face of Navigating Romantic Relationships After Trauma.
For instance, after first meeting Tess, Shelby tells Ryan, “I have a feeling your Tess is a runner. She’s the kind of woman who loves you and leaves you in the same breath” (144). Even without knowing Tess well, it is clear to Shelby that Tess is avoiding something. However, as Shelby comes to know Tess better, the metaphor shifts in connotation. Rather than seeing Tess as potentially heartless, Shelby comes to view her as skittish and tries to reassure her: “Some people are good, Tess. Some people genuinely want to help. You don’t have to keep running” (292). When Tess asks how Shelby knows this, she explains that she is a psychologist who has worked with a lot of other “runners.” The metaphor also suggests the speed with which Tess plans to leave Ryan in moments of crisis. For instance, when she asks Rachel, “Do you see me bolting?” in reference to her relationship, Rachel responds, “Your running shoes are on, and you’re waiting for the sound of that starter pistol” (385).
However, the meaning of running transforms by the end of the novel. When the novel finally depicts Tess physically running, it is when she is in search of Ryan at the gala. Though she spends the majority of the novel attempting to get away from him as fast as she can, Tess is ultimately able to see that her relationship with Ryan is something worth pursuing.
Sex
Sex plays a major role in Ryan and Tess’s growing relationship, and as a motif, it highlights the couple’s growth and connection. The main characters’ relationship is sexually charged from the beginning, as Ryan continually happens upon Tess while she is naked. Tess later mentions that it is perhaps this coincidence that leads the two to be so open with one another, saying, “Maybe that’s why everything has been so topsy-turvy with us. We started with me naked. No walls, no hiding. Just me, exactly as I am” (312). Although their relationship begins as a friends-with-benefits arrangement, most of the scenes in the novel that involve sex also involve heartfelt admissions that bring Tess and Ryan closer to one another, showing how sex symbolizes their deep bond. For instance, the couple has sex for the first time just after Tess admits how vulnerable she feels around Ryan, also mentioning that the last time a man touched her, he did so abusively. By having sex with Ryan, Tess seeks to regain control of her body; she even directly tells Ryan, “I want you to help me reclaim it [control]” (313). Conversely, the fact that both are willing to sacrifice control at various points during sex highlights their growing trust in and vulnerability with one another.
Legal Papers
The contracts, divorce papers, and other legal documents that feature in the novel symbolize the societal struggles that Tess and Ryan are up against. The divorce papers that Tess gives to Troy plague her throughout most of the novel, as they are the only thing that can legally free her from Troy’s control. When she receives the shredded remains of the papers in the mail, her hopes for a quiet end to the marriage dissipate. At the end of the novel, it is these divorce papers that send Ryan to Cincinnati to confront Troy and that Bea uses as a bartering tool to keep Tess silent about Troy’s abuse, highlighting the outside pressures that Tess and Ryan’s relationship must resist.
The motif also facilitates the novel’s exploration of ableism. Ryan must consider several legal documents throughout the novel, and due to his dyslexia, Ryan has additional challenges navigating their meaning and assessing how the documents will impact them. However, Ryan is uncomfortable with his disability and therefore reluctant to voice this: When Tess tries to get Ryan to read through his proposed contract on his own, he simply says that he lets his lawyer do that, hiding the fact that he has trouble reading them. Later, Troy uses the fraudulent restraining order he gives Ryan at the gala to taunt him, making the font smaller to exacerbate Ryan’s struggles and to make himself seem superior to Ryan; his willingness to exploit another person’s disability (and taunt them about it) adds to his characterization as a villainous figure. However, while Ryan thinks this document means the end of his relationship with Tess, she sees this as the leverage she has been looking for in her marriage. Tess uses this document against Troy and Bea, besting them in their own game and showing them how she, too, can use the law to her own advantage. Symbolically, her actions also suggest her acceptance of Ryan’s disability, as she sees something he is ashamed of as an asset.
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