A Good Kind of Trouble

The top Isabella reluctantly lends to Shayla symbolizes Shayla’s envy in both its archetypical color and how Shayla uses it. Shayla decides to borrow the top immediately after thinking she wasn’t as “cute as [Isabella]” and knows “[i]t’s her absolute favorite” (101). Instead of owning her own sense of style, she emulates Isabella’s, hoping she can look just as good. Using the top to get Jace’s attention only brings his attention back to Isabella, showing the fallacy in changing oneself to meet another’s perceived preferences.

Until this point, Shayla has had unkind thoughts towards Isabella and sometimes snippy words, and her decision to prioritize gaining Jace as a boyfriend over maintaining a healthy relationship with one of her best friends deepens the splintering of the United Nations. The color of the top, green, is traditionally associated with envy and greed, further characterizing Shayla’s self-centeredness at the beginning of the novel. Her failure to gain Jace’s attention by wearing the top accentuates the thematic idea that conformity does not necessarily lead to belonging. Though she tries to conform to Jace’s standards of beauty, she doesn’t win his favor.