The Girl on the Train

by

Paula Hawkins

Megan Hipwell / “Jess” Character Analysis

Megan Hipwell is one of the book’s narrators and protagonists. Megan is a young, artistic, sensitive woman with a dark past and a restless, insatiable spirit—and she’s missing when the events of the novel begin. Through flashback chapters, Hawkins provides pieces together the story of how Megan disappeared. After marrying the passionate but deeply possessive Scott, Megan quickly finds herself dissatisfied with suburban life and the demands of domesticity. Unable to even consider motherhood in spite of her husband’s longing to be a father, Megan begins delving into the depths of her trauma surrounding children in therapy sessions with the gentle, inquisitive Dr. Kamal Abdic. Megan, who suffered the loss of a her daughter Libby from a previous relationship at just 19 years old, has spent her life trying to outrun the criminal mistakes of her past. And in the process, she’s gotten herself swept up into a series of damaging and indeed dangerous relationships. Megan begins having an affair with Tom Watson, the father of Evie, the child she babysits—and when Megan becomes pregnant with a baby that may or may not be Tom’s, she finds herself placed in a life-threatening position as Tom’s violent impulses surface. Megan’s disappearance—eventually revealed to be a murder committed by Tom himself—sends shockwaves through the quiet suburb of Witney. As the headlines change each week, Megan is alternately cast as a victim, a killer, a tramp, and a misfit, demonstrating the unrealistic and damaging pressures society places upon women. Megan, like Rachel, is a woman who has lived much of her life on the brink due to her failure to embody the virtues of femininity and maternal instinct society demands of women. And ultimately, she’s made to pay with her life for her inability to live up to those crushing standards.

Megan Hipwell / “Jess” Quotes in The Girl on the Train

The The Girl on the Train quotes below are all either spoken by Megan Hipwell / “Jess” or refer to Megan Hipwell / “Jess”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Society Theme Icon
).
Rachel: One Quotes

I know that on warm summer evenings, the occupants of this house, Jason and Jess, sometimes climb out of the large sash window to sit on the makeshift terrace on top of the kitchen-extension roof. They are a perfect, golden couple. […] While we're stuck at the red signal, I look for them. Jess is often out there in the mornings, especially in the summer, drinking her coffee. Sometimes, when I see her there, I feel as though she sees me, too, I feel as though she looks right back at me, and I want to wave.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: One Quotes

Sometimes I don't even watch the trains go past, I just listen. Sitting here in the morning, eyes closed and the hot sun orange on my eyelids, I could be anywhere.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Two Quotes

I don't have words to describe what I felt that day, but now, sitting on the train, I am furious, nails digging into my palms, tears stinging my eyes. I feel a flash of intense anger. I feel as though something has been taken away from me. How could she? How could Jess do this? What is wrong with her? Look at the life they have, look at how beautiful it is!

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 30-31
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Three Quotes

I'm walking in the woods. I've been out since before it got light, it's barely dawn now, deathly quiet except for the occasional outburst of chatter from the magpies in the trees above my head. I can feel them watching me, beady-eyed, calculating. A tiding of magpies. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

I've got a few of those.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Four Quotes

On the train on the way home, as I dissect all the ways that today went wrong, I'm surprised by the fact that I don't feel as awful as I might. Thinking about it, I know why that is: I didn't have a drink last night, and I have no desire to have one now. I am interested, for the first time in ages, in something other than my own misery. I have purpose. Or at least, I have a distraction.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Four Quotes

Who's to say that once I run, I'll find that isn't enough? Who's to say I won't end up feeling exactly the way I do right now—not safe, but stifled? Maybe I'll want to run again, and again, and eventually I'll end up back by those old tracks, because there's nowhere left to go.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Five Quotes

I'm thinking about her now. I have to convince Scott that I knew her—a little, not a lot. That way, he'll believe me when I tell him that I saw her with another man. If I admit to lying right away, he'll never trust me. So I try to imagine what it would have been like to drop by the gallery, chat with her over a coffee. Does she drink coffee? We would talk about art, perhaps, or yoga, or our husbands. I don't know anything about art, I've never done yoga. I don't have a husband. And she betrayed hers.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Six Quotes

"I fell asleep," I say, and then I can't say any more, because I can feel her again, no longer on my chest, her body wedged between my arm and the edge of the tub, her face in the water. We were both so cold.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Dr. Kamal Abdic, Libby
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Four Quotes

She held up a newspaper with the headline WAS MEGAN A CHILD KILLER? I was speechless. I just stared at it and, ridiculously, burst into tears. […] Diane glanced slyly up at me and asked, "Are you all right, sweetie?" She was enjoying it, I could tell.

I had to leave then, I couldn't stay. They were all being terribly concerned, saying how awful it must be for me, but I could see it on their faces: thinly disguised disapproval. How could you entrust your child to that monster? You must be the worst mother in the world.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Evie
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Eleven Quotes

Megan isn't what I thought she was anyway. She wasn't that beautiful, carefree girl out on the terrace. She wasn't a loving wife. She wasn't even a good person. She was a liar, a cheat.

She was a killer.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 209
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Seven Quotes

I'm just turning to walk to the station when a man comes running along the pavement, earphones on, head down. He's heading straight for me, and as I step back, trying to get out of the way, I slip off the edge of the pavement and fall.

The man doesn't apologize, he doesn't even look back at me, and I'm too shocked to cry out. I get to my feet and stand there, leaning against a car, trying to catch my breath.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Dr. Kamal Abdic
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Thirteen Quotes

“Every time I passed that hole in the wall I thought about it. Tom said he was going to patch it up, but he didn't, and I didn't want to pester him about it. One day I was standing there […] and I […] remembered. I was on the floor, my back to the wall, sobbing and sobbing, Tom standing over me, begging me to calm down, the golf club on the carpet next to my feet, and I felt it, I felt it. I was terrified. The memory doesn't fit with the reality, because I don't remember anger, raging fury. I remember fear."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson, Dr. Kamal Abdic
Page Number: 230
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Fifteen Quotes

Everything is a lie. I didn't imagine him hitting me. I didn't imagine him walking away from me quickly, his fists clenched. I saw him turn, shout. I saw him walking down the road with a woman, I saw him getting into the car with her. I didn't imagine it. And I realize then that it's all very simple, so very simple.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 271-272
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Nine Quotes

"I don't believe you," I say. "Why would he lie about that?"

"Because he lies about everything."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 279
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Nine Quotes

"Did you hear what I just said?” he snaps, turning his back on me and striding back up the path towards the car. "You'd be a terrible mother, Megan. Just get rid of it."

I go after him… […] I’m yelling at him, screaming, trying to scratch his fucking smug face, and he’s laughing… […] It’s not even rejection, it's dismissal. […]

He's not laughing anymore.

He's coming towards me. He has something in his hand.

I've fallen. I must have slipped. Hit my head on something. I think I'm going to be sick. Everything is red. I can’t get up. […] Someone is speaking to me. Now look. Now look what you made me do.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Tom Watson (speaker)
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Nineteen Quotes

Tom's lips are moving, he's saying something to me, but I can't hear him. I watch him come, I watch him, and I don't move until he's almost upon me, and then I swing. I jam the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck.

His eyes widen as he falls without a sound. He raises his hands to his throat, his eyes on mine. He looks as though he's crying. I watch until I can't look any longer, then I turn my back on him. As the train goes past I can see faces in brightly lit windows, heads bent over books and phones, travellers warm and safe on their way home.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 317
Explanation and Analysis:
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Megan Hipwell / “Jess” Quotes in The Girl on the Train

The The Girl on the Train quotes below are all either spoken by Megan Hipwell / “Jess” or refer to Megan Hipwell / “Jess”. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Women and Society Theme Icon
).
Rachel: One Quotes

I know that on warm summer evenings, the occupants of this house, Jason and Jess, sometimes climb out of the large sash window to sit on the makeshift terrace on top of the kitchen-extension roof. They are a perfect, golden couple. […] While we're stuck at the red signal, I look for them. Jess is often out there in the mornings, especially in the summer, drinking her coffee. Sometimes, when I see her there, I feel as though she sees me, too, I feel as though she looks right back at me, and I want to wave.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: One Quotes

Sometimes I don't even watch the trains go past, I just listen. Sitting here in the morning, eyes closed and the hot sun orange on my eyelids, I could be anywhere.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Two Quotes

I don't have words to describe what I felt that day, but now, sitting on the train, I am furious, nails digging into my palms, tears stinging my eyes. I feel a flash of intense anger. I feel as though something has been taken away from me. How could she? How could Jess do this? What is wrong with her? Look at the life they have, look at how beautiful it is!

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 30-31
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Three Quotes

I'm walking in the woods. I've been out since before it got light, it's barely dawn now, deathly quiet except for the occasional outburst of chatter from the magpies in the trees above my head. I can feel them watching me, beady-eyed, calculating. A tiding of magpies. One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

I've got a few of those.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Four Quotes

On the train on the way home, as I dissect all the ways that today went wrong, I'm surprised by the fact that I don't feel as awful as I might. Thinking about it, I know why that is: I didn't have a drink last night, and I have no desire to have one now. I am interested, for the first time in ages, in something other than my own misery. I have purpose. Or at least, I have a distraction.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 85
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Four Quotes

Who's to say that once I run, I'll find that isn't enough? Who's to say I won't end up feeling exactly the way I do right now—not safe, but stifled? Maybe I'll want to run again, and again, and eventually I'll end up back by those old tracks, because there's nowhere left to go.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker)
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 95
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Five Quotes

I'm thinking about her now. I have to convince Scott that I knew her—a little, not a lot. That way, he'll believe me when I tell him that I saw her with another man. If I admit to lying right away, he'll never trust me. So I try to imagine what it would have been like to drop by the gallery, chat with her over a coffee. Does she drink coffee? We would talk about art, perhaps, or yoga, or our husbands. I don't know anything about art, I've never done yoga. I don't have a husband. And she betrayed hers.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Six Quotes

"I fell asleep," I say, and then I can't say any more, because I can feel her again, no longer on my chest, her body wedged between my arm and the edge of the tub, her face in the water. We were both so cold.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Dr. Kamal Abdic, Libby
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Four Quotes

She held up a newspaper with the headline WAS MEGAN A CHILD KILLER? I was speechless. I just stared at it and, ridiculously, burst into tears. […] Diane glanced slyly up at me and asked, "Are you all right, sweetie?" She was enjoying it, I could tell.

I had to leave then, I couldn't stay. They were all being terribly concerned, saying how awful it must be for me, but I could see it on their faces: thinly disguised disapproval. How could you entrust your child to that monster? You must be the worst mother in the world.

Related Characters: Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Evie
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Eleven Quotes

Megan isn't what I thought she was anyway. She wasn't that beautiful, carefree girl out on the terrace. She wasn't a loving wife. She wasn't even a good person. She was a liar, a cheat.

She was a killer.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Scott Hipwell / “Jason”
Page Number: 209
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Seven Quotes

I'm just turning to walk to the station when a man comes running along the pavement, earphones on, head down. He's heading straight for me, and as I step back, trying to get out of the way, I slip off the edge of the pavement and fall.

The man doesn't apologize, he doesn't even look back at me, and I'm too shocked to cry out. I get to my feet and stand there, leaning against a car, trying to catch my breath.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Dr. Kamal Abdic
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Thirteen Quotes

“Every time I passed that hole in the wall I thought about it. Tom said he was going to patch it up, but he didn't, and I didn't want to pester him about it. One day I was standing there […] and I […] remembered. I was on the floor, my back to the wall, sobbing and sobbing, Tom standing over me, begging me to calm down, the golf club on the carpet next to my feet, and I felt it, I felt it. I was terrified. The memory doesn't fit with the reality, because I don't remember anger, raging fury. I remember fear."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson, Dr. Kamal Abdic
Page Number: 230
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Fifteen Quotes

Everything is a lie. I didn't imagine him hitting me. I didn't imagine him walking away from me quickly, his fists clenched. I saw him turn, shout. I saw him walking down the road with a woman, I saw him getting into the car with her. I didn't imagine it. And I realize then that it's all very simple, so very simple.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 271-272
Explanation and Analysis:
Anna: Nine Quotes

"I don't believe you," I say. "Why would he lie about that?"

"Because he lies about everything."

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Anna Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Tom Watson
Page Number: 279
Explanation and Analysis:
Megan: Nine Quotes

"Did you hear what I just said?” he snaps, turning his back on me and striding back up the path towards the car. "You'd be a terrible mother, Megan. Just get rid of it."

I go after him… […] I’m yelling at him, screaming, trying to scratch his fucking smug face, and he’s laughing… […] It’s not even rejection, it's dismissal. […]

He's not laughing anymore.

He's coming towards me. He has something in his hand.

I've fallen. I must have slipped. Hit my head on something. I think I'm going to be sick. Everything is red. I can’t get up. […] Someone is speaking to me. Now look. Now look what you made me do.

Related Characters: Megan Hipwell / “Jess” (speaker), Tom Watson (speaker)
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis:
Rachel: Nineteen Quotes

Tom's lips are moving, he's saying something to me, but I can't hear him. I watch him come, I watch him, and I don't move until he's almost upon me, and then I swing. I jam the vicious twist of the corkscrew into his neck.

His eyes widen as he falls without a sound. He raises his hands to his throat, his eyes on mine. He looks as though he's crying. I watch until I can't look any longer, then I turn my back on him. As the train goes past I can see faces in brightly lit windows, heads bent over books and phones, travellers warm and safe on their way home.

Related Characters: Rachel Watson (speaker), Megan Hipwell / “Jess”, Anna Watson, Tom Watson
Related Symbols: Trains
Page Number: 317
Explanation and Analysis: