Opinion: Book review: What ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt can tell us about college life

Three of the novel’s main characters, Richard, Bunny, and Henry (left to right) congregating on a couch in a study. Art by Wes Mowry-Silverman.

Warning: this article will have major spoilers for the book.

The Secret History is a book about the difficulties of college life, taken to a seemingly fantastical extreme, yet remaining brutally grounded and real to its very end.The book at first presents as a subversion of a murder mystery, where the killer is given away in the first chapter, but as a whole, the book is more about the pitfalls of college life. The characters constantly fall into a variety of pitfalls, from unchecked hedonism to self-imposed isolation.

For those who have not read the book — recently or at all — the inciting incident is Richard's friend group (sans Richard and Edward, the latter more commonly known as "Bunny") holding a bacchanal: an intense party associated with the Greco-Roman god of wine, celebration and madness. The result of their severe intoxication is the horrific death of an unnamed farmer by their hands, whom they tore apart during their hedonistic frenzy. While it isn't properly revealed to the reader or the protagonist Richard until around halfway through the book, and while it's arguably the most fantastical aspect of an otherwise grounded book, the narrative choice author Donna Tartt made should inform our overall takeaway from the book's events.

While the majority of college students do not try to commune with pagan gods, the fact of the matter is that many college students participate in risky and sometimes immoral behavior, such as drug use, irresponsible sex acts, and reckless driving. It's also no accident that the students in this book are studying Greek language and Greek gods. In the real world, a youthful disregard for one's own safety along with the safety of others can be strongly associated in popular culture with fraternities, often known as "Greek life." 

There is also a specific aspect of the subtext of “The Secret History” that rings true when it comes to college students. The divide and conflict between the college students in the book, typically foreign and wealthy, and the less fortunate and poorer locals is of particular interest. We follow the point of view of Richard, who himself is less financially fortunate (the only one in the friend group on a scholarship) but wants to appear wealthier than he actually is, lying about his family in the process. Since he is so captivated with the lives of his fellow intellectuals, who all come from rather wealthy families, we only get to see the perspective of an entitled and insular group of friends at an exclusive college — there is no insight shared from the wider community.

This theme of economic classism is only further reinforced after the murder of the farmer. He is considered so insignificant that he doesn't even get a name. The farmer’s insignificance is juxtaposed with what happens when one of these college students, Bunny, "goes missing" after threatening to expose the crimes of his former friends. A large-scale search is launched for him, a local drug dealer is almost framed for his murder, and the rest of the story is focused on the fallout of his death. To be clear, Bunny was a vile and manipulative man, constantly making homophobic statements even around gay characters, only caring about people in terms of their use to him, and showing little respect for human life. Bunny’s friends know his flaws more than anything, yet he gets so much more fanfare than an innocent farmer. 

While vastly dramatized in “The Secret History,” there is much to be learned from the book’s classist theme. College students often live in a bubble that makes it easy to become detached from the rest of society, and the same could be said of many of us at Willamette. Students have a tendency to forget that they are not the majority of the population. In fact, the majority of people within the country (and the vast majority of the world) live more challenging lives, having to worry about job security, paying their mortgages, keeping their kids safe, and so on. The "Willamette bubble" is very much a real thing.

On the topic of college students being isolated from the rest of society, there is also something hauntingly realistic about the period in the book in which the protagonist is the most lonely. During a harsh winter break, Richard refuses to stay with any of his friends: he doesn't want to reveal that he actually has to work since he does not come from a rich background. Rather than risk losing status among his elitist friends, he opts to instead stay inside a freezing warehouse with a hole in the roof. He becomes extremely lonely and depressed, to the point of suicidal ideation. Richard is willing to go to an extreme just to keep up his facade out of fear of losing status among his friends.

While this part of the story is not as important to the overall plot, it's one of the most memorable for me. The chapter gives the reader vital insight into the character of Richard, who is not responsible for the murder yet willingly becomes complicit. It also reflects some of the greatest dangers of independent living at college, since it can become extremely easy to isolate yourself and suffer needlessly alone. It's also common to become overly attached to friends or groups of people who are a negative influence and can get you into undesirable situations where you feel pressured to do things you should not do.

“The Secret History” is a cautionary tale against some pitfalls of college life, and deserves more credit for its well-observed insights.