Emily Doe Character Analysis in Talking to Strangers

Emily Doe is the name by which the court referred to Brock Turner’s victim during Turner’s 2016 sexual assault trial. Doe and Turner met at a Stanford University fraternity party in 2015. Both were allegedly intoxicated when two graduate students intervened after noticing Turner on top of Doe, who appeared to be unconscious. Gladwell sees Doe’s assault and Turner’s trial as a case where alcohol’s “myopic” qualities make the already difficult chance of understanding strangers—and discerning their consent—more difficult.

Emily Doe Character Timeline in Talking to Strangers

The timeline below shows where the character Emily Doe appears in Talking to Strangers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...her, and gone outside to lay down. The woman, known in legal proceedings as Emily Doe, was found partially undressed. When she awoke in the hospital a few hours later, she... (full context)

2. The situation between Turner and Doe isn’t unique. Many college-aged people meet at parties and choose to go home together. Sometimes,... (full context)

...Fireball Whiskey before attending the fraternity party. He continued to drink after he arrived. Emily Doe’s friends also testified that they drank alcohol prior to and during the party. Doe attests... (full context)

Doe and Turner met around midnight and started dancing. They chatted, started kissing, and walked outside... (full context)

...flee when the graduate students confronted him if he was truly innocent. A photograph of Doe lying on the ground, clothes half off, near a dumpster, further convinced the jury of... (full context)

8. Gladwell returns to the night of Emily Doe’s sexual assault. He emphasizes that she was blacked out, which is what reliably happens when... (full context)

...questioned by police, Turner alleged to remember much less and denied having run away from Doe after the graduate students confronted him. He also alleges to have “kind of blacked out.” (full context)

At the end of Turner’s trial, Emily Doe read aloud a letter addressed to Turner, detailing the emotional trauma she endures in the... (full context)

Doe delivered a “scathing” response to Turner’s statement, in which he called for the implementation of... (full context)