56 pages • 1 hour read
Margo's Got Money Troubles
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Symbols & Motifs
“Hungry Ghost”
Content Warning: The source text depicts drug use and addiction. It mentions sexual assault and contains offensive and derogatory language surrounding sex work.
The term “Hungry Ghost” is an important motif in the book. It comes from one of Margo’s favorite poems that Mark wrote for her during their affair, and Margo ends up adopting the term as her username when she starts an OnlyFans account. This phrase shows how Margo takes control of her narrative and subverts Patriarchal Standards of Women’s Morality. She takes a phrase that emerged in a sexually exploitative relationship and reuses it to assert her own power and identity.
As Margo delves deeper into the world of OnlyFans, “Hungry Ghost” evolves from just a username to a persona. Margo takes on the role of “Ghost” in the TikToks she makes with Rose and KC, playing an alien that is always hungry. The evolution of “Hungry Ghost” from just words to a character with a backstory and personality showcases two things: It shows Margo’s growing comfort with creating and putting out content on the platform, and it also highlights how deeply parts of her authentic self and identity are slowly getting enmeshed into her online persona. This speaks to the theme of Digital Consumerism, Creativity, and Dual Identities.
“Hungry Ghost” reaches the final form in its evolution when JB suggests that he and Margo name their joint company “Ghost Ink.” “Ghost Ink” encapsulates Margo’s evolution from an amateur creator to a confident and capable professional who is putting her talent and creativity to work within a legitimate business. While Margo is still “Ghost,” she has finally transcended the hunger she felt at the beginning of her journey and is flexing her storytelling skills through the newly added word “Ink.”
The term “Hungry Ghost” also captures the essence of an online presence; “Ghost” signifies the anonymity behind which people can hide on the internet, while “Hungry” alludes to the insatiable desire to stay online. Online conversations and interactions, especially between strangers, take place in a digital ether. Hence, relationships that develop there, like the one between JB and Margo, can sometimes have a quality of being ghostlike or unreal. However, these interactions can nevertheless provide a sense of validation that leaves people hungering for more.
Professional Wrestling
Professional wrestling is a recurring motif in the novel. Margo’s father, Jinx, used to be a professional wrestler, and his insights and advice are derived from his experience in the field and help Margo find success on OnlyFans.
The novel draws numerous parallels between the arena of professional wrestling and the world of OnlyFans. Both are spaces in which individuals use their bodies to entertain an audience and earn money for doing so. There is a fine line between acting and authenticity in both spaces, with choreography playing an important role. Additionally, at least in the way Margo operates on OnlyFans, both involve the creation of a persona based on the actor’s true self, which aims to evoke a strong emotional response from the audience.
By highlighting similarities between these seemingly disparate worlds, the novel underlines how society consumes people’s bodies and what they do with it as content and entertainment across multiple spaces. The similarities further serve to underline that despite this, attitudes of shame and immorality are attached only to sex, due to Patriarchal Standards of Women’s Morality. On the other hand, gratuitous violence, as seen in the professional wrestling world, is fully accepted. The novel also parallels the importance of storytelling across both professional wrestling and digital platforms like OnlyFans to argue how they are all forms of art, albeit with differing levels of value and acceptability.
Names
Names are an important motif that develops in these chapters. Margo’s father is known as “Jinx”—this is the name of the persona he adopted in the professional wrestling world, and he continues to go by this name in his personal life as well. Margo, however, separates out her personal life and her professional one: She insists on remaining “Ghost” when she meets Rose and KC, and she actively lies to JB about her real name. These choices show how she sees her name as essential to her identity and true self, and she tries to keep her real self separate from her work. Thus, she believes that a name holds immense power. This is why doxing, in the OnlyFans space, simply involves releasing a creator’s real name. Despite fans being able to see and consume content that features a creator’s naked body, a name is still more intimate. JB’s reaction to learning that Margo lied about her real name further emphasizes the power a name holds. In this way, names as a motif speak to the theme of Digital Consumerism, Creativity, and Dual Identities, specifically highlighting how deeply enmeshed a creator’s identity is in their work. The decision to keep her name secret is Margo’s way of trying to keep her personal identity separate from her work, though she fails to do this as she becomes increasingly involved in creating content that reflects her personality.
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