Victim blaming

Victim blaming shifts responsibility for harm from the person who caused it to the person who suffered it. In the novel, the idea appears both in intimate relationships, where hurtful conduct is challenged rather than excused, and in Robert Jefferson’s defense of sexual violence, where misogyny and wealth are used to deny victims’ credibility and agency. The contrast makes the concept more than a mistaken judgment: it is also a means of protecting power and perpetuating harm.

Blame, violence, and obedience

A childhood memory of Jungkook Jeon presents blame within a family’s violence. After Jungkook tries to defend his mother, his father throws a glass across the room; a shard strikes Jungkook’s face, and his father grabs him by the shirt and slaps him repeatedly. The father then scolds the boy for failing to stay in his place. The scene does not excuse the father’s violence or suggest that Jungkook caused it. Instead, the reprimand turns a child’s attempt to intervene into an offense deserving punishment, making obedience the standard by which the abuser judges him.

This episode gives the concept a wider context: blame can work alongside physical force, assigning fault to the person with less power and treating resistance as the real problem. Jungkook’s fear and rage mingle after the assault, leaving him with a confused response to violence inflicted by the person who should have protected him.

Explanation is not absolution

When Jungkook apologizes to Shelby Anderson Barnum after treating her cruelly, he recognizes that she was hurt without justification. He links his loss of control to their kisses and to his use of cocaine, but Shelby rejects the idea that repeating what she already knows will repair the damage. She also refuses to let drugs serve as a convenient explanation for his words. Her response makes a distinction central to the novel’s treatment of blame: circumstances may help explain behavior, but they do not transfer responsibility for its consequences to the person harmed.

Later, Jungkook speaks more fully about his return to the Ares Garden and his past with Kayla. He describes the pull of the ring and his earlier relationship with Kayla, while acknowledging that he had pushed her away when she reappeared. Shelby wants the truth, not a story that replaces accountability with an excuse. The conversation frames honesty as necessary to their relationship without making disclosure itself a substitute for responsibility.

Robert Jefferson’s defense

The clearest and most explicit example comes when Jungkook confronts Robert Jefferson. Jungkook challenges Robert’s denials by referring to Shelby’s account and to Madison Jefferson’s statement to the police that she had seen her father rape Shelby. He also rejects Robert’s presumption that money can protect him indefinitely, insisting that he wants Shelby and the other women Robert traumatized to know that Robert is behind bars.

Robert answers by claiming that justice does not apply to rich men and that he will remain untouchable. He admits taking advantage of women, then blames them for supposedly inviting the consequences. His account makes the reversal unmistakable: the person committing the assault casts himself as the injured party and presents the women’s conduct as the cause of his actions. He further denies Shelby’s credibility by portraying her as sexually available, using a degrading judgment of her behavior to support his refusal to accept responsibility.

Jungkook counters the double standard by asking whether Robert would make the same argument if his own daughter had been raped. Robert’s answer does not weaken his defense; he instead distinguishes Madison from the women he has harmed, claiming that she respects herself and insulting Shelby. The exchange exposes the selectivity of his supposed moral standard: a daughter is granted protection from blame, while other women are demeaned and held responsible for the violence inflicted on them.

Accountability and restraint

Jungkook responds to Robert’s insults by grabbing him by the collar, but he keeps himself from striking him. He has promised Shelby not to hit Robert, and he holds to that promise even while warning that Robert will eventually go to prison. The moment contrasts two forms of response: Robert uses blame to evade accountability, while Jungkook restrains his own violence and insists on legal consequences.

Across these scenes, victim blaming appears as a way to silence people who have been harmed, excuse aggression, and preserve the status of the powerful. The novel also distinguishes that strategy from the harder work of recognizing harm without shifting its cost onto someone else. Its critique rests on concrete contrasts: a child punished for trying to protect his mother, Shelby refusing to accept an explanation as an excuse, and Robert invoking his wealth while insisting that the women he assaulted deserved what happened.