Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone

“I watch the news ripple through the students. […] Before the end of the night, nearly everyone will know. The news moves in waves of popularity through the pews, […] Too quickly, the news reaches the parents. […] News spreads fast in Nowhereville.”

Mal uses the metaphor of a wave to describe how quickly news of Jennifer’s disappearance spreads. She notices how the popular kids get first access to the latest information, which suggests a social hierarchy that determines who gets to know what and when. The speed of the news’s transmission indicates a town with an appetite for gossip. Gradually, the parents become aware, too, and their delayed exposure to the serious news of a child’s disappearance indicates the potentially dangerous ways smartphones provide children with access to information that parents may not be aware of.

“Reagan has that best-friend way of reaching into my brain and knowing what I’m thinking—even before I do.”

Mal’s friendship with Reagan is one that began with them mutually supporting one another through their insecurities. However, the friendship also becomes unhealthy when Mal becomes completely dependent on Reagan to assuage her fears and tell her how to behave. Mal finds comfort in knowing that Reagan can read her mind, but she is unaware that what she thinks is Reagan’s perceptiveness is really Mal relinquishing her own opinions. Reagan knows what she’s thinking because she tells her what to think and Mal follows.