The Divorce Themes

by Freida McFadden

This analysis draws on moments from across the whole book and may contain spoilers.

Underneath its plot, the novel wrestles with how people manufacture reality to control others and escape consequences. It explores consuming motherhood that turns possessive, and the disorienting power of gaslighting. Small deceptions spiral into violence, while divorce stigma isolates women and pushes them toward desperate acts.

Here you'll find each theme paired with concrete moments from the book, from Jeremy's renovation as romance to Naomi's hair-cutting and the public divorce papers. We also trace the symbols: the wedding ring Naomi struggles to remove, the elephant toy that ties the missing child to maternal love, fire as erasure and consequence, and the knife block that signals hidden menace.

Major Themes in The Divorce

Deception and manufactured reality

The book repeatedly shows characters constructing false appearances to control others and escape consequences. Jeremy presents a renovation as a romantic gift while secretly arranging a divorce, and Naomi fakes a paternity test by swabbing Jeremy's father instead of Teddy. Even the epilogue reveals Jeremy planted evidence and poisoned Naomi's kombucha to make her seem unstable.

Jeremy tells Naomi the apartment is for a renovation, but later reveals 'There is no renovation.'
Naomi swabs Mr. Roth's cheek instead of Teddy, producing a false paternity match that makes Jeremy marry her.
Jeremy admits in the epilogue that he planted the knife in Teddy's drawer and poisoned Naomi's kombucha.

Motherhood, possession, and sacrifice

Motherhood is portrayed as both a consuming love and a possessive claim that justifies terrible acts. Naomi steals a baby because she cannot conceive and then kills to keep him, while Ronnie spends years searching for her lost son and risks everything to save him. Jeremy's fatherhood is similarly possessive, leading him to kill Teddy's biological father.

Naomi feels a 'rush of maternal affection,' takes the baby from the car, and decides it feels like fate.
Ronnie says of Teddy after the fire: 'All he’s got is me. And I am going to make sure absolutely nothing happens to him.'
Jeremy learns Teddy is not his biological son but decides 'Teddy was my son now' and gets rid of Clay Barkley.

Gaslighting and self-doubt

Characters are made to question their own perceptions, and the narrative shows how effective that manipulation can be. Jeremy makes Naomi doubt her memory about times and appointments, then accuses her of being erratic when she denies his claims. Even Naomi's lawyer dismisses her fear of poisoning as 'crazy,' reinforcing the gaslighting.

Cora tells Naomi that Jeremy is gaslighting her by making her doubt appointment times that were only ever given in person or on the phone.
Jeremy opens Teddy's drawer and shows the stabbed elephant as proof Naomi is deranged, while Naomi insists Veronica must have done it.
When Naomi tells Ezra about the poisoned kombucha, he calls her story crazy and warns her not to give the opposition ammunition.

Appearances versus hidden danger

Charming surfaces hide dangerous truths throughout the book. Veronica seems like a sweet young woman but has a criminal history and manipulates Jeremy with fake tears, while Naomi appears to be the unstable one even though Jeremy is the mastermind. The story constantly asks what lies beneath a polished exterior.

Veronica cries over her destroyed present, but Naomi sees her smile the moment Jeremy turns away.
Naomi googles Veronica and finds almost no social media presence, concluding 'There’s something about Veronica Chesson that isn’t adding up.'
Jeremy returns the money to the joint account to look honest, but Ezra produces a bank statement showing the balance was twenty-five dollars five days earlier.

Escalating violence and consequences

Small deceptions spiral into assault, murder, and arson. Naomi begins by cutting Veronica's hair and ends by deciding to kill her, while the fire she sets ultimately traps her and Ezra. The prologue frames the whole story through the looming arrival of the police and the bodies in the house.

After hitting Veronica with a rock, Naomi thinks about making her a 'captive audience' and looks for duct tape.
Naomi pushes Ezra down the cellar stairs after he discovers Veronica, and he dies at the bottom.
The fire Naomi set to erase evidence blocks her path to the stairs and consumes Ezra as she watches.

Public shame, ostracism, and divorce stigma

Divorce is treated as a contagious shame that separates women from their social group. Naomi is served papers in front of the school and her friends pull away, just as Cora was already being avoided by the other mothers. Naomi is later excluded from her son's birthday party and handcuffed in front of the guests.

Naomi is served divorce papers in front of the school and says, 'I almost wish he had shot me.'
Ashlyn and Cheryl are eager to get away from Naomi after the public serving, leaving her mortified.
Jeremy calls the police at Teddy's party, and Naomi is handcuffed and marched out while all the guests watch.

Symbols and Motifs

Wedding ring

Represents Naomi's lingering attachment to her marriage and her difficulty accepting that it is over. Taking it off marks the moment she begins to let go, while Jeremy's removal of his ring signals his decision to leave.

Naomi still wears her morganite wedding ring after the separation, and Jeremy points out they are getting divorced.
Ezra advises Naomi to stop wearing the ring because it hurts her custody case, and she feels 'naked' once it is off.

The elephant toy (Ellie)

Symbolizes the lost and abducted child, as well as the maternal bond that persists across the story. Ronnie keeps the elephant for Dominic, gives it to Teddy, and later sees it as desecrated evidence of Naomi's cruelty. It becomes physical proof of the fight over Teddy.

Ronnie gives Teddy the elephant she had kept for her missing son Dominic, and Teddy hugs it like a long-lost treasure.
Jeremy photographs Naomi's apartment showing Dominic's elephant stabbed with a knife and covered in red sauce, calling it proof of what Naomi is capable of.
At the party, Teddy cries for Ellie after the mutilated elephant is found in his drawer.

Fire

Represents both the erasure of evidence and the inescapable consequences of the characters' actions. Naomi plans to use fire to hide the murders and appear heroic, but the fire instead traps her and destroys the house. The prologue's smell of scorched flesh and approaching sirens signals that her plan has already failed.

Naomi decides a fire is the only way to explain Ezra and Veronica being dead in the cellar and to hide the marks on Veronica's wrists and ankles.
After Naomi lights the spilled scotch, the fire blocks her path to the stairs and consumes Ezra while Naomi prays for Teddy to be saved.
In the prologue, the narrator smells scorched flesh as police sirens arrive.

Knife block / missing knives

Functions as a motif of hidden menace and the thin line between domestic safety and violence. Missing knives signal that something is wrong in Naomi's apartment, and the kitchen shears become the tool she uses to attack Veronica. The stabbed elephant completes the pattern of the kitchen knife being turned into a weapon.

Naomi returns to find one knife missing from the block and then discovers it glinting in the sink.
Before Jeremy arrives, Naomi notices another knife missing from the block, and Jeremy later finds that knife stuck in Teddy's elephant.
Naomi retrieves sharp boning shears from the kitchen knife block and uses them to cut off Veronica's hair.