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53 pages 1 hour read

Natasha Trethewey

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2020

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Part 2, Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary: “Disclosure”

Five years after Gwen’s death, Natasha found a cassette recording on which Gwen spoke. Natasha had already forgotten what her mother smelled like and how she walked. She had found the tape in her grandmother’s house. The tape brought Gwen back to her. Then, the tape became tangled in the machine. Natasha took out the cassette, smoothed the tape, and started over. Again and again, it would catch. Finally, it snapped in her hands. 

Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary: “Evidence: Tape of Recorded Conversation”

Since his release from prison, Joel had been calling Gwen repeatedly and threatening her. As a result, Gwen worked with the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office to get enough evidence to “compel a judge to issue a warrant for Joel’s arrest” (158). The assistant district attorney installed a recording device in Gwen’s apartment (her word against Joel was not enough) that was connected to her telephone. During one of her conversations with Joel, there is an interruption from when Natasha called to tell her mother when exams would be over, and she could pick her up for summer break. That call occurred on June 4, 1985; the last time Natasha spoke with her mother.

The tape starts on June 3. Joel told Gwen that he felt like he had a new lease on life. He then told Gwen that she had agreed to give him another chance. She said that wasn’t true, and that he was “hearing what [he wanted] to hear” (158). She also reminded him that she remained frightened of him. Joel denied that he had ever tried to hurt her. He then admitted that he had but said that he did so because he believed there were no other options. Gwen reminded him of the stress he had caused her, resulting in her massive weight loss. She then told him that violence and threats were ineffective when dealing with people. She capped off her comment by reminding him that he was no longer in Vietnam.

Joel admitted that he had made mistakes, then said that Gwen was also guilty of not communicating. But he insisted that things would be different this time, that they would work together. When Gwen refused, Joel said that he had no other option but to force her. He then said that he was going to kill himself and take Gwen with him. Gwen told him that she never understood how he could hurt people whom he claimed to love. Joel reminded her of their vow: “till death do us part.” He also said that it was likelier now than in January that he would lose control of himself.

Gwen asked Joel if he had thought about how hurting her would hurt Natasha and Joey. He said that they would just have to accept it, as everyone eventually accepts when a parent dies. Gwen corrected him, saying that a loss from natural death was not the same as coping with a parent’s murder. Joel then told her that, when Gwen divorced him, he died inside. He then pleaded with her not to force him into killing her so that he could be with her forever. When she accused him of living in a fairy tale, he insisted that fairy tales could come true. Gwen told him that she was going to hang up and take something to settle her stomach. Joel asked when he’d get a chance to see her and talk to her. She told him that it would have to be “in the presence of a third party,” which he refused (174). Joel insisted that, in time, she would learn to like him and love him. Before the called ended, Joel told her that, every day, people take the lives of those whom they love because they can’t live without the other person. But, Joel said, he was certain that he and Gwen would work things out before that.

Gwen hung up the phone and recorded the date and time of the call. The next day, there was another call. Joel told her that, due to Gwen turning down his dinner invitation, he no longer cared what happened. He accused Gwen of destroying his life. He said that Gwen was choosing death instead of him. He talked about the various ways in which he could create an explosion in her car or her home. She reminded him that Joey lived with her in the apartment. He said that Joey would be a sacrifice. He said that he could create an explosion in her entire building, similar to what had happened at Bowen Homes. He then said that he had “it on paper that [Gwen was] a maniac” who would lie to get Joel arrested (181). When she reminded him of how he had injected her with a substance, he denied that he had broken the skin. When she told him about the scar the injection had created, he accused her of creating it herself.

Joel told Gwen that she didn’t know where he was, how close he might be to her home. He also said that, if he saw police, he would know to act quickly. Gwen reminded him that the police frequented the apartment complex. He then asked again if there were any circumstances under which Gwen would return to him. She said there weren’t. When he offered to get help, Gwen said that he had to seek treatment for himself, not because of her.

The evidence from the conversation convinced a judge to issue an arrest warrant at 1:00 AM on June 5, 1985. A police officer had been assigned to watch Gwen’s apartment, but he left early in the morning. With the cop gone, Joel entered the apartment. According to the autopsy report, he shot Gwen twice, “at close range, in the face and neck” (186). One bullet went through her right hand, which had been raised, before entering her skull, “behind the bloodred bloom of her birthmark” (186). 

Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary: “What the Record Shows”

Natasha recalls how the death record claims that Gwen died on May 31—not on June 5. This irritates her because it takes five days away from her mother’s life, as though they don’t matter, as though Gwen was going to die anyway.

Part 2, Chapters 12-14 Analysis

This section continues the theme of narratives, but it transitions from Natasha’s exploration of written records to that of vocal ones. Hearing Gwen’s voice brought Natasha closer to her mother, briefly. She gets the sense of proximity that she had longed for when she spoke to the psychic. The recording of Gwen’s voice was necessary for the police record to validate her narrative against Joel’s. One of her ex-husband’s stories included characterizations of Gwen as mentally ill and vindictive, which would have coincided with the misogynistic stereotypes often used to discredit and silence women who object to assault and harassment.

Gwen’s accusation that Joel was living in a fairy tale mirrored his insistence on creating a narrative in which their marriage life could suit his delusions. One of which was his belief that he could justify killing her by characterizing the act as a romantic, sacrificial one.

Joel’s reliance on violence as a means of expressing what he thought was love occurred against a backdrop of violence, which plagued Atlanta in the late-1970s and early-1980s. The allusion to Bowen Homes refers to an explosion at a daycare center at the housing project, where low-income Black families lived. The accident, which occurred on October 14, 1980, was the result of a gas-fired boiler exploding and killing four children and one adult. The explosion was initially believed to have been an attack by a White supremacist. This fear was evidence that, despite Atlanta’s reputation as a symbol of the progress of African Americans, anxiety about racist terrorism lingered. The explosion also coincided with the murder of numerous African American boys in the Atlanta area. White supremacists were also suspected of having committed these crimes. A local African American man, Wayne Williams, was later arrested and imprisoned for the murders, but many Atlanta citizens still believe that a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was responsible. 

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