They Never Learn

“Tyler Elkin. Star athlete, and one of the worst students I ever taught in my Intro to English Lit class. As starting quarterback, he took the Gorman University football team all the way to the conference champions last season. That was before the rumors started.”

This quote sets up They Never Learn’s first kill: Dr. Scarlett Clark’s murder of Tyler Elkin, a former student and part of a group of male students who sexually assaulted a female student. In this, the reader learns Scarlett is a cold-blooded killer with a cause.

“I’ve been counting down the days all summer, but now that I’m here I feel like I can’t breathe.”

This quote reveals Carly’s troubled home life: She has been desperate to begin college and get away from her emotionally abusive father. However, she is still ill at ease among her fellow students, and feels more comfortable studying alone.

“Twenty is young. But if he was old enough to gang rape a girl and get away with it, he was old enough to pay the price.”

This quote reinforces Scarlett’s motive for vigilantism: She seeks justice against perpetrators of gender-based violence at Gorman University. These men escape punishment by peers and university administration, so she acts in their victims’ stead—no matter if her target is professor or student.