Character Analysis
Like Hilary Handy's story of Amy's frame-up back in prep school, Tommy O'Hara's tragic tale of being framed for rape reveals Amy's manipulative tendencies. Amy dated Tommy briefly between when she met Nick at the writers' party and ran into him again at the market. For reasons he's still unaware of, she seduced him, then injured her wrists to make it look like she'd been tied up before going to the police and pinning the whole thing on him. She let him sweat for a few days before dropping the charges and sending him a cryptic anonymous note in the mail.
Amy's story may have painted Tommy as a vicious "'alpha male rapist'" (37.112), but he actually describes himself as more of a "'twerp" (37.112) who cries during Godfather II and sings 1980s power ballads at karaoke. He provides Nick—and us—with a powerful example of Amy's need to control people, and how far she'll go to overpower them.