Pretty Little Liars

“But something felt the same, as if Alison’s presence was still floating here.”

Emily is especially haunted by Alison, as she wished Ali was more than a friend. Emily’s feeling that Ali’s old room still feels the same, even with Maya as its new occupant, points to Emily’s grief and adds suspense and doubt to the narrative, and brings to light questions about whether Alison really died.

“But now, every Rosewood sight outside the car window reminded her of the past she wanted to forget.”

Returning to Rosewood is a dreadful experience for Aria, who found her years abroad freeing and filled with new experiences. That she wants to forget the past she left in Rosewood provides background into her character and relationship with the small town.

“But the biggest thing Ali had missed? Hanna’s makeover, of course—and it was such a bummer she had.”

Hanna’s wish that Ali had seen her makeover points to the level of influence she still has over her friends, Hanna especially. Hanna still seeks for Ali’s approval, even though she isn’t around to give it and still measures her success by what Ali would have thought. Hanna’s thoughts about Ali show that she too has not forgotten her missing friend.

“Spencer wanted to think she’d changed a lot since seventh grade. They’d all been so mean—especially Alison—but not just Alison.”

Spencer’s self-awareness of her behavior and understanding of Alison’s impact highlights the fact that Alison’s was most likely viewed as a relief for many. Spencer’s memory of her own actions, and the regret attached to them, indicates that she has grown, but has not forgotten the friend she left behind. Ali’s portrait as a mean girl is further solidified through Spencer’s reflections.

“And…I’ve been replaced? Another friend to kiss? Emily’s hands trembled. She looked at the signature again.”

Emily’s reaction to finding a note from A builds the suspense and fear in the narrative. Emily only shared a kiss with Alison, who is dead. The note serves as further proof that something is amiss as Emily confronts the fact that someone else knows intimate details about her that she has not shared with anyone but Alison.

“Then, something caught her eye in the neighbor’s upstairs window: a flash of blondish hair. But wasn’t the new family black? An icy shiver crept up Spencer’s spine. That was Ali’s old window.”

Spencer’s paranoia and fear is the strongest in the novel, leading her to believe she saw Alison in her room. Whether this is real is left to interpretation and continues to intensify the feeling of danger and uncertainty now clouding Alison’s disappearance and death.

“It took Ezra a long time to respond. It seemed to Aria that he was trying to make up his mind. She looked at him hopefully.”

Ezra’s hesitation to bend to Aria’s hope for a relationship indicates his own level of interest in her, and his understanding of the legality of the situation. As student and teacher, minor and adult, the relationship is illegal. Ezra’s pause shows his attraction to Aria and Aria’s hope illustrates her need for a new and different experience in a Rosewood she does not want to return to.

“At first she felt much, much calmer. But by the time she pulled into her driveway, the old, familiar feelings of panic and shame had welled up inside her. Hanna was amazed how, even though it had been years since she’d done this, everything felt exactly the same.”

After binge eating a box of sweet potato fries, Hanna’s deep insecurities resurface as she reflects on her actions. This passage establishes Hanna’s façade of growth, as the pressures surrounding notes from A, her crumbling relationship with Sean, and her inattentive parents wreak havoc on her stability. Hanna’s outward appearance has changed greatly, but with the triggering notes from A, her inward landscape reverts to the way it was when Alison was alive.

“The only person who knew about Aria’s dad was…Alison. And she’d sworn on her grave she wouldn’t tell a soul. Was she back?”

Aria’s doubts about whether Alison has returned indicates the lack of answers that were given in the wake of Alison’s disappearance. That Aria considers Alison to have possibly returned indicates that it’s not a far-fetched idea. Her doubts in the face of notes from A grow mistrust for Ali and others as she begins—as well as the other girls—to wonder who all knows her secrets. Ali’s influence, even after disappearing, still holds strong as the girls begin to become paranoid and afraid of their tormentor.

“What if…what if Andrew was the one skulking around spying her? What if Andrew wrote that creepy ‘covet’ e-mail? Andrew was so competitive it seemed possible?”

Spencer’s thoughts show her tendency to cling to logical explanations amid confusion. Her thought that Andrew is A shows her continually growing paranoia and her determination to get to the bottom of A’s identity. That Spencer tries to find someone else to blame also speaks to her relationship with Alison as well. Alison as a possible identity for A does not hold as much weight with Spencer as it does with others, setting her apart from the group.

“She wasn’t the kind of girl who could fake things. But did that mean she wanted to break up? It was hard to make up your mind about a boy when he was right in your swimming lane, four feet away.”

Emily continues to struggle with her identity, but a moment of clarity and self-awareness shines through as she stands for what she wants. As she struggles to understand her own emotions, she realizes that her relationship with Ben isn’t one that will last. This self-reflection shows Emily’s inner conflict and builds to her moments of self-growth.

“Aria sighed. At times like this she wished she hadn’t drifted from her old friends. Like Hanna, a few desks over—if only Aria could walk up to Hanna and talk to her about this, ask her questions about Ali.”

Aria’s reflections demonstrate how isolated she is since returning from Iceland. Her thoughts illustrate how the girls have drifted and how their relationship was one with Alison as the foundation. As Aria wishes she could talk to Hanna, the context she wishes to ask about is Alison, further supporting the gap in their relationship since Ali’s disappearance.

“Mrs. Fields wasn’t upset because she thought Maya was gay. She was upset because Maya—and the rest of her family—were black.”

Emily’s confession of wanting to quit her swim career sends her mother into a spiral, blaming Maya’s influence. As her mother continues to question Emily’s motivations, it becomes clear that their relationship is built on the façade Emily shows to her parents, and not her true personality. Emily is astonished at her mother’s racist behavior, furthering the rift between them even wider and destabilizing Emily’s view of home even more.

“Maybe Aria wanted all her old friends to have a reunion—of course, being away, she wouldn’t know how far apart they’d grown. How uncomfortable would that be?”

Emily’s thought of Aria’s motives reveals her own levels of paranoia and mistrust. She thinks of Aria as another friend “being away,” much like Alison, and how the rest of the friends have fared after their absences. That Emily is uncomfortable speaking with Aria reinforces the fact that they have all grown apart after Ali’s disappearance.

“Didn’t anyone care about her? She thought of the letter she’d gotten yesterday. Even daddy doesn’t love you best!”

Hanna’s isolation comes to the forefront as Sean rejects her attempts at sex and confesses that he’s not going to have sex with her for his first time. Hanna’s desire for acceptance bubbles into panic as she feels alone and rejected. Her note from A about her father only adds to her feelings of despair, encouraging her depression.

“It was easy to talk to Ezra—so easy she could imagine doing it forever. They could travel together to faraway places. Brazil would be amazing…They could sleep in a tree and eat nothing but plantains and write plays for the rest of their lives.”

Aria doesn’t feel isolated and alone with Ezra and feels a connection after leaving for his place from Noel Kahn’s party. Her fantasies of their future together display her inner desires to escape from Rosewood and her life there. The passage also serves to highlight her immaturity as she imagines what they would do together as a couple.

“There was something empowering about standing in the middle of an empty four-lane highway. She felt like she owned Rosewood. She also felt like she was spinning, but maybe that was because she was still wasted.”

Hanna’s inner stability continues to spiral, and her actions reflect her disrupted mind as she steals Sean’s car and wrecks it. That she feels empowered standing in the middle of a highway shows how unstable she feels. The image of Hanna in the middle of the road also symbolizes her—and the other girls—as a target, preparing to be run over by their own secrets.

“But suddenly Aria was too afraid to ask. How would she talk about the texts from A without mentioning her secret? She still didn’t want anyone to know. Especially with her mom just upstairs.”

Emily arrives at Aria’s door to ask whether Aria is behind the love note in her bike wheel that she originally wrote to Ali and the interaction immediately disintegrates. Aria desires to find out her own answers from Emily, but both are afraid and paranoid, keeping them from saying anything of substance to one another. Ali’s influence is once again highlighted as the girls’ friendship was centered around her and they cannot maintain conversations, let alone confrontations, with one another since Ali’s disappearance.

“Spencer felt faint. She half-expected them to set down their coffee cups and tell her they were just kidding, that everything was all right. But they couldn’t even look at her.”

Spencer’s family has fully realized the extent of her relationship with her sister’s boyfriend, and the already cutthroat atmosphere of her household turns cold. Her normally direct parents don’t even look her in the eye, affirming just how far she has fallen in their eyes. Their reactions show the full impact of her decision to pursue a relationship with Wren, an adult to her minor. This reaction foreshadows what could happen to Aria’s relationship with Ezra they too are discovered.

“Aria’s whole body started to tremble. ‘I swear to God, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you explain, please? I’m kind of falling apart here!’”

The messages from A on Aria’s phone have been seen by Ezra, who is furious and thinks their relationship has originated from a prank. Aria’s physical and emotional response to the deterioration of their relationship exposes her deep attachment to him and what he represents for her. The havoc that comes from A’s messages only serve to cause further discord for the girls.

“He trailed off, but Spencer thought she knew what he was going to say. It wasn’t like being with you. She smiled shakily and laid her head against his chest. His heart thumped in her ear.”

Wren’s return to Spencer in her time of need indicates their level of connection, even though he has been shunned from the rest of the Hastings family. The continued relationship represents the murky relationships of the novel, and how they are rarely as they seem.

“She clicked the TV back on, wishing she had someone to talk to…about the police, about A, and mostly about Alison. Sean was out, for obvious reasons. Her mom—who was on a date right now—was her usual useless self.”

Hanna’s mental health continues to plummet after wrecking Sean’s car and watching news coverage about the discovery of Alison’s body. She remains isolated, feeling as though she cannot lean on anyone for her concerns. Her feelings of dejection emphasize her need for true friends and someone she can trust, just like the other girls.

“Emily sat back. Maybe Ali didn’t know everything. Yes, this might have been the worst day of her life, and she was horribly devastated about Ali, and completely freaked about A. But for a moment, she felt okay. Sitting here with her old friends seemed like the tiny beginning of something.”

The final reunion of Emily, Hanna, Spencer, and Aria serves to provide a sense of comfort that has been missing for the girls since the beginning of the novel. Though the friendship between the four was centered around Alison, and they have come together for her funeral, Emily’s peace points to their friendships developing past Alison for the first time. The tiny beginning of something she feels foreshadows the relationships to come and the connections they will make together in the future.