Chapter 2: Waldo's Night of Escapism
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Waldo returns home to an empty house, completes routine chores, and finds a sticky note from Mom announcing that Waldo’s friend spent the night at Tony’s and wishing Waldo well on the first day of senior year. After microwaving a frozen lasagna, Waldo tucks the note into a jewelry box full of similar mementos. To pass time, Waldo watches a series of YouTube videos—curly-hair tutorials, thrifting, the JFK assassination, and a beauty guru haul—then impulsively orders a cream blush stick, persuading herself that a single product could bridge the gap between her and Margot Robbie. She finishes the lasagna, performs a superficial skincare routine, and ends the night shopping on Shein, consciously ignoring the site’s cancer warnings for most items. The chapter captures Waldo’s cycle of online consumption and avoidance of deeper emotional states.
Key Events
- Waldo enters the house, kicks off shoes, uses the bathroom, and disposes of toilet paper to prevent clogs.
- She washes her hands with Mom’s lemon verbena soap, then does dishes and a load of laundry.
- Waldo microwaves a Stouffer’s frozen lasagna and finds a sticky note from Mom on the kitchen island.
- The note mentions Waldo spent the night at Tony’s and wishes Waldo a great first day of senior year.
- She carries the lasagna and note to her room, tucking the note into an overstuffed jewelry box.
- Waldo burns her tongue on the hot lasagna and watches multiple YouTube videos in a row: curly-hair tutorials, a thrifting video, the JFK assassination, and a beauty guru’s $700 Sephora haul.
- She clicks the links in the description box and orders the same cream blush stick shades, except Venetian Rose.
- Waldo reflects on the promise of online shopping and distinguishes it from spoken promises.
- She completes the purchase, feeling a mix of regret and excitement that pushes away an unnamed underlying feeling.
- After eating, she washes her face, brushes her teeth, and picks at zits.
- Unable to sleep, she scrolls through shopping sites and loads a Shein cart, noting the cancer warnings on items.
Character Development
Waldo is portrayed as a young woman who uses digital consumption to fill an emotional void. She clings to her mother’s sticky notes as tangible tokens of affection, yet she never phones or texts back—suggesting a passive, inward-looking personality. Her YouTube browsing jumps from self-improvement (hair tutorials) to historical violence (JFK) to mindless haul videos, revealing a scattered attention and a reluctance to sit with any single thought. The act of ordering a blush stick is framed as a fantasy of transformation; she admits that a product won’t change her life, but she willingly buys into the empty promise. The final scene on Shein shows her rationalizing fast-fashion ethics for low prices and even using cancer warnings to prioritize her cart. Overall, Waldo emerges as someone avoiding self-acceptance and real connection by burying herself in transient online purchases.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Escapism through Consumerism: The chapter is structured around acts of buying and browsing. Ordering a blush and later loading a Shein cart are presented as rituals that generate a fleeting mix of regret and excitement, displacing whatever emotion lurks beneath.
- Online Distraction: YouTube’s algorithm guides Waldo from hair tutorials to a murder video to a luxury haul, illustrating how digital content can fragment focus and delay introspection.
- Empty Promises: Waldo explicitly contrasts the assuring font on product packaging with less credible spoken promises. The blush stick symbolizes a fantasy of becoming someone else (Margot Robbie) without real effort.
- Cost of Convenience: Shein’s cancer warnings are acknowledged but selectively ignored—Waldo keeps a crop top while discarding velvet trousers. This shows a self-aware but morally flexible consumerism.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 2 establishes Waldo’s baseline coping mechanisms on the cusp of her senior year. Her reluctance to engage with her emotions or with other people (Mom, Tony) sets up a character poised for conflict or growth. The patterns of online shopping and multitasking reveal a generation-specific form of avoidance that may become a central obstacle in the plot. The chapter also introduces the theme of parental absence (Mom leaves notes rather than being present) and Waldo’s ambivalent relationship with her mother’s care.
Study Questions & Answers
1. Why does Waldo keep all of Mom’s sticky notes?
Waldo keeps the notes because she, like Mom, believes they offer a personal touch that a text message cannot. The stash in the jewelry box suggests she values these physical tokens of affection, yet she never reciprocates or acknowledges them directly—indicating a passive, one-sided attachment.
2. What does the selection of YouTube videos reveal about Waldo’s state of mind?
The rapid switch from curly-hair tutorials to the JFK assassination to a beauty haul shows a fractured attention span. She initially seeks self-improvement (hair care) but quickly abandons it for shocking content and finally for aspirational consumerism. This pattern suggests she is restless, easily overwhelmed, and using the internet to avoid any sustained emotional engagement.
3. How does Waldo justify shopping on Shein despite the cancer warnings?
Waldo acknowledges the “damning ethics of fast fashion” and the cancer warnings on items but uses the warnings as a practical filter to prioritize her cart: velvet trousers are deemed not worth the risk, while a crop top stays. Her reasoning reveals a cost-benefit calculation that prioritizes appearance and low price over health and ethics—a microcosm of her larger avoidance of serious consequences.