The Favorite Girl

Peonies frequently appear in The Favorite Girl, but roses are only briefly mentioned. Why is Arya’s floral symbolism focused on peonies, and how does it contrast with the traditional symbolism of roses?

White and off-white appear together in the Ivory Estate, reflecting the estate’s name as an off-white color. How would you compare and contrast off-white elements, like some bones on Ian’s bone wall, with icy white elements, like Bradley’s hair being bleached platinum blonde? How does off-white enter into the symbolism of whiteness?

How does the meaning of “favorite girl” change over the course of the novel? What does it mean to Demi to call herself the favorite girl in the novel’s concluding lines? Does she gain agency by reclaiming a term that was used to commodify her, or does she participate in her own commodification?