The Thoroughbreds Themes
by Elin Hilderbrand
Underneath its plot, The Thoroughbreds wrestles with how status and belonging get made in Tiffin. Wealth, pedigree, fame, and social capital decide who fits, while secrets about money, relationships, pregnancies, and identity simmer until they spill. Grief, memory, love, jealousy, betrayal, college pressure, and performed identities haunt the characters too.
On this page, you'll find theme breakdowns of privilege and class, secrecy and revelation, grief and loss, love and betrayal, ambition and college admissions, and identity and belonging. They connect to concrete moments like valedictorian rivalry, Early Decision stress, hidden affairs, Taylor's miscarriage, and Coop's late wife Eliza. Symbols include the neon 'Comparisons are odious' sign, Jewel Pond, Cinnamon's delayed email attachment and empty chair, and hidden privileged spaces like the Back Lot and Priorities speakeasy tunnel.
Major Themes in The Thoroughbreds
Privilege, Class, and Social Hierarchy
Tiffin is a stratified world where wealth, pedigree, fame, and social capital shape who belongs and who is marked as an outsider. The notes repeatedly contrast students with inherited advantages and students who arrive with very little, while also showing how status is performed through clothes, bags, followers, and college names.
- Liam Donovan arrives by bus with his belongings in a plastic trash bag, then finds Room 307 stocked with new clothes, school supplies, electronics, and a MacBook.
- Tilly calls Liam poor and says he showed up with his things in a trash bag, while Olivia thinks she might have a chance with him because he is working-class.
- Olivia replaces her Goyard tote with a Margaux bag because the Goyard suddenly seemed too basic, and she obsesses over comparisons, weight loss, highlights, and limited-edition accessories.
- In Mav's college meetings, Pippa insists UMiami will take her because her mother is Sondra Sacks, while Liam says he is from Queens, missed the SAT to cover a shift, and needs a full scholarship because he wasn't sure how big he was allowed to dream.
Secrecy, Hidden Truths, and Revelation
Secrets propel the plot: financial misconduct, hidden relationships, pregnancies, special deals, and buried identity are concealed until they erupt. The book contrasts the relief of truth-telling with the damage caused by lies, cover-ups, and selective silence.
- Audre discovers that nearly seven million dollars is missing from Tiffin's operating budget, learns she signed DocuSign papers moving funds to Evermore without reading them, and decides not to tell Jesse yet.
- Dub says his most guarded secret was buried with Cinnamon but should be unearthed, then announces in his senior speech, 'I'm gay,' and receives a standing ovation.
- Olivia and Grady hack Tiffin's server and find emails showing Jesse Eastman's twenty-million-dollar donation was contingent on East getting through Tiffin no matter what circumstances might arise, including special academic and disciplinary exemptions.
- Taylor hides her pregnancy and miscarriage from Hakeem and confides in Dub instead; Hakeem learns the truth only at the Briland Club during spring break.
Grief, Loss, and Memory
Death and grief haunt the characters and institutions: Cinnamon Peters's suicide, Thad Hicks's death, Taylor's miscarriage, and Coop's late wife Elizabeth all shape choices and rituals. Memory becomes a way to keep lost people present and to measure how the living move forward.
- Cinnamon sent Dub an email attachment before her death, asking him to wait until graduation morning to open it; Dub obeys and later plays her recorded voice singing 'Have It All' at graduation.
- Cinnamon's memory is honored by an In Memoriam page and an empty chair in the front row at Prize Day, and Ms. Robinson nods to the empty chair in her speech.
- Charley's essay 'The Dinner Party' imagines inviting her deceased father, Thad Hicks, to dinner and thanking him for instilling her love of reading.
- Audre tells Coop about Cinnamon's suicide and weeps in his arms; Coop discusses his late wife Elizabeth, who died of pancreatic cancer three years ago.
Love, Jealousy, and Betrayal
Romantic and sexual relationships are tangled with jealousy, secrecy, and betrayal. Characters hide past involvements, lie about where they have been, cheat, reconcile, and break apart, often while the broader school community watches or gossips.
- East admits past sexual contact with Simone Bergeron, including kissing her and going down on her; Charley confronts him on the chapel roof and says she wants to take a break.
- Davi sees Liam climb into Pippa's garland-decorated Land Rover and steal her Santa hat after Davi spent the weekend with him, even though they kiss goodbye before Mrs. Wully returns.
- Tilly Benbow had an affair with Charley's stepfather Joey; Charley realizes this when Tilly drops her coffee and flees at Wawa, and Fran later texts Joey 'Tilly Benbow.'
- Hakeem tackles and chokes an Old Bennington lineman after the lineman directs a homophobic slur at Dub, then at the bonfire tells Dub he was hurt Dub did not tell him first.
Ambition, Competition, and College Pressure
Rankings, valedictorian rivalry, Early Decision results, and professional ambition drive both students and adults. The notes show college admissions as a status system and a source of anxiety, while adults compete for the Head of School position and institutional survival.
- Charley is named valedictorian, beating Royce Stringfellow by two-tenths of a percentage point; Royce rants and vents to Liam, who tells him to give Charley props.
- Early Decision emails bring Madison J.'s Yale deferral, Royce's MIT deferral, Willow's Tulane deferral, Tilly's SMU deferral, Davi's UMiami deferral, Pippa's UMiami rejection, and Taylor's Duke acceptance.
- Cordelia and Rhode become rivals for Head of School, each touting accomplishments and subtly disparaging the other, while Douglas Worth and later Amanda Maverick are also in the running.
- Jesse Eastman offers Chef Haz a counteroffer of triple salary, a house down payment in Capulet Falls, and a pied-a-terre on West 68th Street to keep him at Tiffin.
Identity, Performance, and Belonging
Characters construct, perform, and revise their identities through costumes, social media, public labels, and chosen communities. The book contrasts filtered exteriors with messy interior lives, and moments of authenticity with the fear of being exposed.
- Olivia and Tilly dress as Olivia's In and Out list for Halloween, with Tilly as In and Olivia as Out, after Olivia wrote the list to get attention and show that Pippa has replaced Davi as Tiffin's queen.
- Pippa admits in the She-Shed that she never climbed Kilimanjaro, and Olivia watches her mystique crack after the fire and Honor Board expulsion.
- The Tuck dress code uses white for single, pink for situationship, and red for fully taken; Davi is thrilled to be 'red-official' with Liam, and Audre and Coop attend in red as their hard launch.
- Cordelia is closeted, fabricated a dead husband twenty-three years ago, and questions her own choices after Dub's senior speech and the chapel's standing ovation.
Symbols and Motifs
The neon sign 'Comparisons are odious'
It represents social comparison, self-worth, and the pressure to measure oneself against others, especially through social media.
- Davi hangs her new neon sign and explains that 'comparisons are odious' is a commentary on social media.
- Davi offers her old sign to Olivia H-T, who says she doesn't want it even though she actually does.
- Sunny Wu refuses Davi's sign because it defines Davi, and Davi later removes the sign from her dorm wall before graduation and gives it to Olivia.
Jewel Pond
It represents Tiffin community, tradition, and transitional moments of belonging, romance, reconciliation, and farewell.
- The Move-In Day cookout is held at Jewel Pond with a roast pig, and Davi persuades Liam to wade into the pond, where he admits he doesn't really know how to swim.
- At the Rivalry Weekend bonfire at Jewel Pond, Dub and Hakeem have their first real conversation in months and Hakeem asks to see a photo of Cal.
- In the epilogue, Charley and Davi walk to Jewel Pond for one last swim before they leave camp, with Davi bringing contraband Veuve Clicquot for a champagne toast.
Cinnamon's delayed email attachment and empty chair
They represent grief, memory, delayed truth, and the continued presence of the dead in the lives of the living.
- Cinnamon sent Dub an attachment in the moments before swallowing the pills that killed her, asking him to wait until graduation morning to open it.
- Dub waits until graduation morning, then shows Cordelia the email and later plays Cinnamon's recorded voice for the class.
- Cinnamon's memory is honored by an In Memoriam page and an empty chair in the front row at Prize Day.
Hidden privileged spaces, especially the Back Lot and the Priorities speakeasy tunnel
They represent rule-bending, elite access, secrecy, and the way Tiffin protects certain students and donors.
- East parks in the Back Lot, where only he is allowed, and later Olivia meets Pippa there to plot revenge.
- East built a speakeasy in a tunnel deep below the dorms; Mr. James knew about it and did not report it, and Simone Bergeron reveals it to Olivia.
- Audre leads Jesse and O'Malley through a luminaire-lit tunnel to the speakeasy Priorities for a donor event; Jesse is initially angry but then delighted by the bar.