Triptych

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Themes

Corruption in the American Justice System

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, child death, rape, child sexual abuse, addiction, and physical abuse.

The very structure of Triptych allows Slaughter to deliver a sharp critique of the US justice system’s many flaws, as well as its tendency to condone and perpetuate injustices upon many of those whose lives are affected by its processes—both inmates and their loved ones in the outside world. Additionally, she examines the many ways in which corruption can spread unchecked on both an individual and an institutional level, as certain officers exploit their power for their own gain while the broader organization sometimes fails the very people it is meant to protect.

These complex and controversial topics manifest in the novel in a variety of ways, and each of the main characters becomes an avatar of a different angle on the theme. For example, Angie has adopted a deeply cynical attitude toward her work because she is far too accustomed to seeing the system fail. As a child, she was never adequately protected and was repeatedly exposed to dangerous people and situations. Now, as a detective, she witnesses the ramifications of trusting in an inadequate system that does not prioritize the safety of women and children, even when certain threats have been definitively identified. In a particularly graphic example of this problematic dynamic, Angie remembers “her days in uniform, [and] recall[s] vividly how she had once peeled a bloody restraining order from the hand of a woman who had been beaten to death by her husband. He had used a hammer. Their kids were watching” (303). The stark, bleak tone of this description conveys her deeply ingrained disgust and weariness, emphasizing that although this particular woman took all the necessary steps to protect herself, those measures proved to be spectacularly ineffective.

Notably, even before Angie learns of his most heinous crimes, Michael is one of the colleagues who is responsible for her loss of faith in the system. Well before his murderous inclinations are finally brought to light, Michael tries to justify his misdeeds by pointing out the discrepancies between police officers’ income and that of the criminals who continue to elude them. Resenting the fact that violent gang members are driving luxury cars, Michael uses such examples to rationalize his own corrupt behavior, and he expects that all law enforcement officers should be as corrupt as he is. As a result, he does not trust anyone who shows no inclination to bend or break the rules, and he mistrusts the straight-and-narrow Will from the very beginning, especially when he senses that Will cannot be so easily fooled. In years past, while serving on the Vice squad, Michael also abused his position to extort sex from sex workers. Angie has always despised the ease with which he exploited others, and she is keenly aware that the justice system and existing police infrastructure made it very easy for Michael to continue his criminal patterns of behavior.

Like Angie, John has seen his own life ruined and reshaped by the failures of the system to protect the vulnerable. Having served a 20-year prison sentence for a crime that he did not commit, John is well-versed in the ways the justice system can fail those it is designed to serve. As his parole officer investigates his apartment, he reflects on the expectations of prison and exhibits a cynical mindset born of his years in prison, stating his belief that someone is always out to get him, whether it be the guards or the police officers. While his perspective is an overgeneralization, his bitterness also draws attention to the legitimate complaints of those who have been disenfranchised and wronged by flaws in the system. John has been deeply damaged by systemic corruption since he was a teenager, and his fear of not being able to prove his innocence now poisons his adult life. As he reflects,

Ms. Lam would be going through his stuff now, and even though John knew there was nothing for her to find, he felt guilty, terrified she’d toss him back in prison. Guys back in the joint talked about parole officers […] looking for any excuse to send you back inside (118).

His instinctive fear of the system emphasizes his barrage of negative experiences, and as a character, he serves as an avatar for these broader concerns. Ultimately, both Angie and John have been brutalized by the system that Michael perpetuates.

The Long-Term Impact of Trauma

As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that the long history of abuse that Angie and Will have experienced now prevents them from being able to enjoy a healthy romantic relationship—either with one another or with different partners. Though Angie knows that “Will d[oes] love her” and “they kn[o]w everything about each other—or everything that matter[s]” (217), she cannot stop herself from repeatedly breaking his heart by pursuing doomed relationships with abusive men. Meanwhile, Will must overcome his own unspecified array of experiences with abuse to pursue his job effectively, and the periodic interactions of these two characters reveal the complex, long-term effects of trauma.

Notably, Will and Angie have been trauma bonded by the similar abuses of their respective childhoods, as well as their shared experiences in what was essentially an orphanage. Even now, Angie is horrified when she sees the scars of Will’s past physical abuse, and she describes his body as “a map to pain, whether it [i]s the long, thin scars on his back where the skin had been rent by a whip or the rough patch of flesh on his thigh where they had made a graft to close the electrical burns” (219). These details are just specific enough to invoke graphic images of hideous abuse while remaining vague enough to raise a sense of dark mystery around the man that Will has become. His determination to solve cases and pursue justice indicates that he himself has been the recipient of an array of injustices, and although Slaughter declines to provide Will’s full backstory in this particular installment, these details raise questions about all that he has survived.

Just as Will has pursued a career in law enforcement to find justice for others, Angie’s past trauma manifests in an adult life that is primarily focused on survival, and she finds her work increasingly difficult as she loses faith in the structures that are supposed to protect her and her fellow survivors of abuse. Having been repeatedly raped and sexually abused as a child, she now states, “Being raped wasn’t the hard part. Surviving was what killed you” (431). Thus, it is clear that she has yet to fully process and heal from the deep wounds of her childhood, and her self-destructive relationships with problematic men represent a continuation of unhealthy themes.

Angie also instantly bonds with John, recognizing in him the same kind of vulnerability that she sees in Will, and he also has a focus on day-to-day survival that she readily recognizes. Because John was extremely vulnerable when he entered prison as a small 17-year-old boy, the sexual assaults that he endured at the hands of his fellow prisoners continue to haunt him. John is therefore immediately drawn to “Robin” because he imagines that she had a nice childhood that was similar to his before her life sank into a spiral of despair. Both John and “Robin” are unable to rebuild what is broken, and they find a modicum of solace in recognizing similar traumas in each other. Ultimately, Will, John, and Angie continue to battle their daily trauma as they confront the systems they cannot escape.

The Tension Between Outward Appearances and Hidden Realities

As Slaughter examines the differences between appearance and reality in many different facets, her exploration of toxic family dynamics becomes particularly prominent. Although John, Aleesha, and Woody/ Michael all had the benefit of successful parents and lived in an affluent neighborhood, they failed in fundamental and spectacular ways as they grew to maturity. For example, Aleesha’s mother laments that her daughter’s struggle with addiction was “a terminal disease” and “a cancer that eats families alive” (317). While this issue represents an external invasion of the family system, Slaughter also makes it clear that many forms of trauma come from within, as when John’s father proved ill-equipped to accept anything less than perfection from his children, removing misbehaving family members from his life as if they were “cancerous tumors he removed in the operating room” (342). By repeating this imagery of metaphorical “cancers” that destroy families from within, Slaughter emphasizes the hidden nature of corruption, which masquerades beneath respectable social façades in one form or another.

Michael himself becomes a prime example of this dynamic, as he has built a respectable public persona for himself as a well-established member of law enforcement. With the power of conventional institutions on his side, he has built a reputation as a strong, effective police officer, and only certain people—such as Angie, Gina, or the other women he exploits—have occasion to witness the ugliness and hatred that lie beneath his outwardly acceptable mask. While he presents a genial face to the world, Gina knows the full extent of his propensity for violence and endures his physical abuse. Similarly, Angie is well aware of his willingness to abuse his authority to solicit sex from women. However, none of these characters knows the true extent of his hidden depravity until the full details of Mary Alice’s and Aleesha’s murders are finally brought to light. As Slaughter so clearly demonstrates, Michael is the ultimate ambush predator, using the trappings of society as cover to indulge his violent inclinations.

While Slaughter’s characters often exhibit hidden depravities that lurk beneath a respectable façade, her settings sometimes achieve the opposite effect. For example, while the exterior of Grady Homes is overrun with poverty, its residents demonstrate considerable resilience that is rarely perceived or honored for the wholesome element that it is. Though John maintains that poor people are “used to just taking what [i]s given to them and being grateful for it” (129), Cecil and Jasmine’s grandmother, Eleanor, demonstrates her determination to provide a better life for her grandchildren, thereby breaking the cycle of addiction perpetuated by their mother. Thus, although the neighborhood harbors many of the more negative effects of abject poverty, Slaughter is careful to create a more balanced portrayal by emphasizing the strength and endurance that the more marginalized members of society often demonstrate despite the many challenges that complicate their lives.