Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses suicide, in addition to strong psychological manipulation.

The nature of morality is a central theme that arises from the first page: “Perhaps you would also make a snap judgment about a woman who decides to reveal her innermost secrets to a stranger for money. But suspend your assumptions, at least for now. We all have reasons for our actions” (4). The authors thus invite readers to suspend their judgments of characters’ moral choices until they understand their whole stories, suggesting a subjective and nuanced view of morality best represented by Jessica’s character. From the beginning, Jessica admits to several morally questionable decisions, such as lying, cheating, and sleeping with married men. She soon admits that she also lied to her parents about the events leading up to her sister’s accident. In this way, Jessica is depicted as morally imperfect but (mostly) honest: She respects the integrity of the study, and she is motivated to make amends for an accident for which she feels responsible. Dr. Shields notes—with judgment—that Jessica’s behavior is often motivated by money, suggesting that Jessica is greedy, rather than trying to help her family and survive in an expensive city.