The Girls

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to sexual abuse and coercion.

The ranch is both a setting and a symbol in this novel. At first, the ranch symbolizes counterculture and belonging. Evie finds a home in the ranch and a new family. For Evie, the ranch represents a “we” that she desperately wants to belong to. The ranch is a place of harmony where people can shake off the social pressures of the outside world and lean into new ways of thinking and being. The ranch hosts parties where drugs and alcohol are consumed, songs are sung, and sex is abundant. The audacity of these parties is antithetical to the way people socialize in the outside world. Evie and the others don’t mind that the ranch is essentially a dilapidated junkyard; they appreciate the ranch because it is a space of communal living where everyone pitches in to feed the animals, cook, clean, and keep up the house. But the symbolism of the ranch shifts as the plot progresses. The ranch becomes a symbol of danger when Russell’s mood toward Mitch changes. When