Maya's Chapter: Summary, Themes, and Analysis

⚠️ 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

In January 2012, Professor DuPont calls Maya with a job offer. Maya had been avoiding his office hours since Winter Formal, when she saw Lila in his office and he criticized her grades. Despite that tension, Maya still views DuPont as a mentor—they share middle-class upbringings and both lost their mothers—and she has begun to imagine a successful future modeled on his example.

DuPont sends Maya to tutor Calum Fuller at forty dollars an hour, triple her restaurant wage. At the Fuller home, Maya meets Suzanne Fuller and her son Calum, a disengaged teenager more interested in his phone than in college applications. During their first session, Calum casually reveals that he expects Maya to take his SAT for him in March, mentioning special testing centers with friendly proctors. Maya is disturbed and tries to dismiss the suggestion, but she overhears Mrs. Fuller on the phone discussing ways to get Calum admitted—mentioning golf or squash recruitment—and realizes the family is actively cheating the system.

When Maya tries to leave, Mrs. Fuller insists on paying her and hands her a check for ten thousand dollars. Maya initially wants to tear it up, recognizing that DuPont is testing whether she can be bribed and that participating could get her expelled. But she thinks of her sister Naomi and rationalizes the decision: the Fullers would get Calum into Princeton with or without her help, and the money could help her care for Naomi. She accepts the check and, the following week, takes the SAT for Calum and aces it.

Maya reflects bitterly on the collapse of her belief in meritocracy. She had grown up believing hard work alone would earn success, but now she sees that the Ivy League runs on favors and connections. She tells herself she is only a small piece of the problem and that her promise to Naomi supersedes everything else.

Over the following weeks, Maya meets Calum twice weekly and completes his application while he plays games on his phone. Mrs. Fuller provides the essay content—claiming Calum cared for her during a brain tumor—though Maya sees no evidence of illness. She writes the essay anyway, thinking of her own mother, and suppresses her guilt by telling herself this is just a job.

Shortly after submitting Calum's application, Maya receives a call from Goldman Sachs: Mrs. Fuller has arranged an internship for her with a managing director. Maya's bank account now holds twelve thousand dollars.

That week, Maya learns from Aunt Ella that Naomi has been refusing to go to school. When Maya finally gets Naomi on the phone, Naomi reveals that a woman came to the door claiming to be a neighbor and asking whether an adult was home. The encounter frightened Naomi, and Bryan—Aunt Ella's older son—told her not to tell anyone. Maya worries the woman may have been from Child Protective Services, which could put Naomi in the foster system. The fear sharpens Maya's determination to earn more money.

One night, Maya falls asleep in the Sterling Club library. She wakes to find Marta, the club's housekeeper, watching her. Marta shows Maya a gold earring she found in DuPont's office—one Maya recognizes as Lila's. Marta warns Maya that DuPont is dangerous, saying she has worked there for years and this is the worst she has seen. She suggests Maya warn Lila to stay away from him, if it's not already too late.

Marta also makes a pointed comment about never having forgotten to lock an office door, implying she deliberately left DuPont's office unlocked for Maya. Maya takes the hint and searches the office. In the top drawer, she finds a notepad with a list including a Thursday meeting with Marsden. In the bottom drawer, she discovers over a hundred file folders on Greystone members. Her own file contains her Princeton ID photo, her personal information, her parents' birth and death dates, and a photo of her parents. Alex Bain's file contains a photo of him with his mother and a note about Senator Bain investing five million dollars. Maya also finds photos from Daisy's camera: one of Daisy and Maya at the lingerie party, and another of Kai, Cecily, and Daisy doing drugs with Alex Bain.

Maya confronts Daisy the next morning. Daisy explains that she and the others had tried to get Alex expelled from Sterling by taking incriminating photos, because DuPont said he couldn't act without evidence. But after the party, Alex overdosed and was taken to the hospital; he is now suspended and may be expelled, with DuPont on the review board. Daisy also explains the investment fund—a Greystone alum fund with a five-million-dollar minimum and a guaranteed fifteen percent return, which she suspects is a bribe to sway DuPont's decision on Alex. Maya realizes the photos are effectively blackmail, and that DuPont has leverage over everyone.

The following Thursday, Maya follows DuPont across campus to Nassau Hall. She finds the office of Thomas Marsden, Dean of Admissions, and watches through the door as DuPont hands Marsden a check. She notices a Greystone ring on Marsden's finger. Maya realizes DuPont is working directly with the dean to admit anyone Greystone wants—and that he never needed her help with Calum at all. He set up the tutoring job simply to have leverage over her, and she walked into the trap. She runs from the building, her chest burning.

Key Events

DuPont recruits Maya to tutor Calum Fuller at an inflated hourly rate
Calum reveals the SAT scheme; Maya overhears Mrs. Fuller discussing admissions fraud
Mrs. Fuller pays Maya $10,000; Maya accepts and takes the SAT for Calum
Maya writes Calum's application essay using fabricated content from Mrs. Fuller
Mrs. Fuller arranges a Goldman Sachs internship for Maya
Naomi reports a frightening visit from a woman at the door; Maya fears CPS involvement
Marta warns Maya about DuPont and shows her Lila's earring
Maya searches DuPont's office and finds files on Greystone members, including her own and Alex Bain's
Maya discovers photos from Daisy's camera documenting drug use and the lingerie party
Daisy explains the attempt to get Alex expelled and the investment fund bribe
Maya follows DuPont to Nassau Hall and sees him pay Dean Marsden, who wears a Greystone ring

Character Development

Maya undergoes her most significant moral compromise in this chapter. She begins with genuine outrage at the Fuller scheme and a desire to prove she can't be bribed, but financial pressure and her devotion to Naomi push her into active participation. Her internal reasoning shows her rationalizing each step: the world is unfair anyway, someone else would do it, her promise to Naomi comes first. By the end, she recognizes that DuPont manipulated her deliberately—that the tutoring job was never about Calum but about creating leverage over her—and the realization shatters her remaining trust in him.

Professor DuPont is revealed as a calculating figure who uses his position to control students, alumni, and even the dean of admissions. His mentorship of Maya is exposed as a recruitment tactic, and his files on members show systematic surveillance.

Marta emerges as a quiet but crucial ally. Her warning about DuPont and her deliberate decision to leave the office unlocked show that she has been watching him for years and is willing to risk her job to help.

Daisy is shown as complicit in the club's corruption. She knew about the drug photos and the attempt to get Alex expelled, and she explains the investment fund without apparent moral distress, revealing how normalized this behavior is among the club's inner circle.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The meritocracy myth: Maya's reflection on her childhood belief that hard work alone would earn success is central. She concludes that the Ivy League runs on favors and connections, and that her own admission was the exception, not the rule.

Blackmail and leverage: DuPont's files on members, the drug photos, and the Calum tutoring job all function as tools of control. Maya realizes she has handed DuPont exactly the kind of evidence he collects on everyone.

Pay-to-play admissions: The check to Dean Marsden, the investment fund, and the Fuller scheme all illustrate how money buys access to Princeton.

Surveillance and secret files: DuPont's hundred-plus folders on Greystone members show that the club's power depends on knowing everyone's secrets.

Sisterly sacrifice: Maya's decision to participate in the fraud is framed entirely around Naomi—her promise to her sister supersedes her ethics.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the turning point where Maya fully understands the scope of the corruption she has entered. It connects the Fuller tutoring scheme to the broader Greystone network—the investment fund, the dean of admissions, the surveillance files—and shows that DuPont's power extends far beyond the club. It also establishes the blackmail material that will likely drive the novel's later conflicts, and it deepens the mystery around Lila by linking her earring to DuPont's office and Marta's warning.

Study Questions

1. Why does Maya decide to take the SAT for Calum, and what does her reasoning reveal about her character?

Maya initially wants to refuse, recognizing the fraud and the risk of expulsion. But she thinks of Naomi and concludes that the Fullers would get Calum admitted with or without her help, and that the money could help her care for her sister. Her decision shows that her loyalty to Naomi outweighs her ethics, and that she is willing to compromise her principles when she believes the system is already rigged against her.

2. What does the discovery of DuPont's files reveal about how the Sterling Club maintains power?

The files contain personal information, photos, and compromising evidence on every Greystone member, including Maya's own file with photos of her parents. Combined with the drug photos from Daisy's camera and the note about Senator Bain's investment, the files show that DuPont collects leverage on everyone connected to the club. This surveillance, along with the investment fund and the payment to Dean Marsden, reveals that the club's power depends on secrets and financial influence rather than merit.

3. How does Marta's warning change Maya's understanding of Professor DuPont?

Marta shows Maya Lila's earring and tells her that DuPont is dangerous, saying she has worked there for years and this is the worst she has seen. Maya remembers the bruise on Lila's temple and realizes DuPont may be abusive, not just having an affair. Marta's deliberate decision to leave the office unlocked also signals that she is actively helping Maya investigate, which shifts Maya from passive observer to active investigator.