Never

The fast pacing continues in this short section, which is again made up of only three chapters. Readiness level in the US has been raised to DEFCON 1, meaning that nuclear war is imminent or has already begun. Leaders retreat to their military bunkers; in the opening chapter of the section it is the leader of South Korea, and in the last chapter it is the president of the US. The novel continues to investigate Globalization and the Threat of Nuclear War in the 21st Century as it portrays this conflict as being wholly unique to the 21st century and unlike any previous conflict. As the world is fully entangled and interconnected, a military action cannot affect only one or two countries or lead to wars between only a few nations; rather, globalization has made complete nuclear war the only real possibility, as war has to be an all or nothing situation. This idea also speaks to The Ethics and Counterproductivity of Diplomacy and International Relations, as the support networks that are present in the novel only cause a worse conflict to happen and do nothing to deescalate tensions. Because these nations are so interconnected and the alliances only serve to strengthen one side in this essentially two-sided war against the other, each military event leads only to the threat of full-on, global conflict and never to the threat of smaller, more localized conflicts. There is a complete breakdown in diplomacy in these sections, as no parties have any allegiances to each other and no de-escalation can occur. It is significant that one of the final actions of the novel is the Chinese president hanging up on and ending all contact with Pauline. International relations have led to no further communication between countries, and this lack of communication has effectively led to the end of the world.

The penultimate chapter focuses on events in China. Chaos reigns, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Muslim provinces breaking away from the capital Beijing. Leaders seem unable to accept reality, insisting that the rebels are still under Chinese control, even though they have launched a nuclear attack on the capital of the South, Seoul. Chinese officials arrest Kai and another moderate. The chaos of Chinese leadership and the take-over by the hardliners adds to the inevitability of all out nuclear war. Kai realizes that his father’s earlier words have been a warning to him as well as foreshadowing to the reader: “Communism is a sacred mission. It comes above everything else, including our family ties and our own personal safety. Now he understood what the old man had meant” (769).

This section repeats two instances of American history in warped and disturbing ways. First the Chinese rework JFK’s words during the Cuban Missile Crisis to turn a warning against the USSR into a threat against the US. When China launches its nukes, Hawaii is the first target, just like it had been when the US entered WWII after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Even though all involved are very well aware of history, they seem doomed to repeat it. Again, the novel suggests that diplomacy has gone nowhere since the start of the Cold War and the first incarnations of nuclear threat.

While the novel ends with the start of all-out nuclear war and the possible annihilation of human life, it does wrap up some loose ends first. Tab proposes to Tamara, and they host a wedding celebration. Abdul and Kiah witness the arrest of Hakim and the terrorists, and Abdul realizes that he wants to spend whatever time is left with Kiah and her son. Pauline and Gus decide they no longer need to wait to consummate their relationship. While tying up loose ends of plots (called the resolution in literary terms) creates a stronger narrative structure, in some ways these happy endings are irrelevant, as the world as they know it is about to end. Perhaps the author wants to remind the reader of the importance of these individual human stories. These subplots also, however, speak to Stereotypes of Women and Power, as during these crucial moments, the women in power inevitably revert to romance novel clichés and emblematize the sometimes sexist depictions that do little to portray women as being able to focus solely on their professional lives. During the most threatening moments of the work, the women all become involved in their romantic subplots, and those indeed seem to be the final word on their stories. They have shown skill and wisdom in dealing with these global conflicts, but the author still leans into stereotypes of women in power. This trivializes their actions in a way, and the romance plots trivialize the end of the world at the conclusion to this novel, too.