Chapter summaries The Coworker Freida McFadden

The Coworker Chapter 21 (Chapter 20) Summary & 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

Four months before the main timeline, a series of emails reveals the toxic dynamics at Vixed. Natalie and Kimberly exchange crude jokes about Dawn Schiff’s virginity. Dawn later writes to her friend Mia about answering Natalie’s phone and taking a message from a customer whose skin is peeling from a Vitamin A cream. When Dawn finds Natalie in the break room, Natalie and Kim openly mock her, asking if she is a virgin. Dawn admits she is—and has never even kissed a boy. Mia’s reply warns Dawn to stay away from Natalie, but Dawn remains desperate for her approval.

Key Events

  • Cruel email chain: Natalie and Kimberly speculate that Dawn is a virgin, joking that she would have sex with a turtle.
  • Customer complaint: Zelda Morris sends an angry email detailing severe side effects from Collahealth—dizziness, tingling, hair loss, blurred vision—and accuses Natalie of doubling her dose when she complained.
  • Dawn answers Natalie’s phone: While Natalie is away from her desk, Dawn picks up a call from a woman whose face is peeling from a Vitamin A cream. The woman sobs about looking like a zombie.
  • Break room confrontation: Dawn finds Natalie and Kim looking at a bridal magazine. Kim asks Dawn outright if she is a virgin; Natalie does not stop the mockery.
  • Dawn’s confession: Dawn admits to Mia that she is a virgin, has never had a boyfriend or a first kiss, and recalls a humiliating spin-the-bottle incident in fifth grade.
  • Natalie’s dismissal: Natalie crumples the phone message and tells Dawn never to answer her phone again.
  • Mia’s warning: Mia urges Dawn to stay away from Natalie and reassures her that she will find love.

Character Development

  • Dawn Schiff: The email to Mia exposes the depth of Dawn’s loneliness and her desperate craving for Natalie’s attention. Despite the humiliation, she still wishes she could please Natalie by wearing the same perfume.
  • Natalie Farrell: Her cruelty is casual and public. She uses her sales skills to dismiss legitimate customer complaints and treats Dawn as a target for entertainment.
  • Kimberly Healey: An eager participant in the bullying, she goads Natalie but later halfheartedly says “You’re so mean.” She follows Natalie’s lead.
  • Mia Hodge: The voice of reason and empathy. She tries to lift Dawn’s spirits while warning her to avoid Natalie.
  • Zelda Morris: A customer whose harrowing experience underscores the danger of Vixed’s products and Natalie’s unethical sales tactics.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Cruelty as bonding: Natalie and Kim’s friendship is built on mocking Dawn. Their shared jokes reinforce their social status at her expense.
  • Silence and isolation: Dawn’s inability to defend herself and her retreat into memories (the closet at the party) symbolize her lifelong pattern of hiding from humiliation.
  • Turtle as metaphor: Dawn envies turtles for their shells—a place to vanish. The turtle mug (mentioned earlier) and the joke about her having sex with a turtle underline her vulnerability and the way she is dehumanized.
  • Product liability: The emails from Zelda Morris and the caller with peeling skin reveal that Vixed’s supplements are harmful and that Natalie knowingly lies to customers, adding a layer of corporate irresponsibility.

Why This Chapter Matters

This flashback establishes the foundation of the psychological abuse Dawn endures. It shows that Natalie’s cruelty is not a recent development but a pattern—and that Dawn’s longing for connection makes her vulnerable. The customer complaints foreshadow a potential motive for someone to want Natalie gone, while the collapse of Dawn’s self-esteem helps explain her submissive behavior in the present timeline. The chapter also deepens the bond between Dawn and Mia, who emerges as Dawn’s only true ally.

Study Questions & Answers

  1. Why does Dawn answer Natalie’s phone despite knowing it might upset her?
    Dawn answers because the repeated ringing distracts her from work and she cannot find Natalie. She takes a message to be helpful, but Natalie’s harsh reaction emphasizes that Dawn is not trusted or valued.

  2. What does the email from Zelda Morris reveal about Natalie’s character?
    Zelda’s email shows that Natalie not only sells a dangerous product but also instructs customers to double their dose when they complain. Natalie later dismisses the complaints as overreactions, revealing her willingness to harm others for profit.

  3. How does Dawn’s memory of the spin-the-bottle incident connect to the break room scene?
    Both moments involve Dawn being publicly humiliated about her lack of romantic experience. The memory reinforces that this pain is not new—she has been shamed for years, which explains why she still craves approval from people like Natalie.

Navigation