76 pages • 2 hours read
Kim EdwardsThe Memory Keeper's Daughter
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “1964”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: "March 1964"
It starts snowing before Norah goes into labor and David builds a fire. Norah reads and talks about what she believes life is like before birth. David thinks about Norah’s easy pregnancy: “He found himself wanting to protect her” (4) and watches her constantly. He thinks about when he first saw her in a department store and followed her to the lingerie section,where he pretended to buy a robe for his deceased sister to have a pretext to talk to Norah. David remembers being awkward but Norah agreeing to see him again. He learned that she practiced cursive until it was perfect as a child,and she learned that he lied about having a sister. Norah goes to bed, but David stays up reading, reflecting on his love for his work and learning despite growing up poor. David is excited about the promise of tomorrow when he goes to bed. Later, Norah wakes up,but David says that it’s probably just false labor because it’s three weeks too early. Norah says the contractions are coming quickly, and David realizes that she is going to give birth. He is calm, drawing from his medical training to “keep his emotions in check” (9) in emergencies. He readies the suitcase, then makes Norah wait as he scrapes the ice and snow from the car windshield with his fingers.
David drives carefully to the doctor’s office, although they hit a patch of ice and gently slide into a snowbank. He is “methodical, purposeful: even in an emergency he could not change his nature” (11). Norah jokes about not wanting to deliver the baby in the car she hates. Once they reach the office, they are laughing, but David sees the worried expression of his assistant, Caroline, and knows something is wrong. Caroline tells them that the doctor got into an accident and won’t be coming. David remembers that he once caught Caroline watching him sleep at his desk and how beautiful she looked in that moment and how their coworkers teased him about her being in love with him. David knows they don’t have time to get to a hospital,so he decides to deliver his baby himself.
David readies himself and Norah, who says that the child’s name should be Phoebe or Paul. He gives his wife anesthesia gas intermittently as the baby comes quickly, trying to conceive of Norah as “a body like other bodies, a patient whose needs he must meet with every technical skill he had” (15). Paul is born healthy, but David soon realizes his wife is having twins, which also surprises Caroline. Phoebe is born,and David realizes she has Down’s Syndrome, remembering both his professor’s words when he delivered another child with Down’s Syndrome years ago as well as the life and struggles of his younger sister. He tells Caroline to clean her up; then, after watching Paul, writes down the address of an institution that will take in Phoebe. Caroline tries to protest, but David is resolute and unflinching.
The next morning after getting little sleep, David tries to think of what to say to Norah: “That it was no one’s fault, that their daughter would be in good hands, with others like herself, with ceaseless care. That it would be best this way for them all” (19). But when Norah asks, David tells her that Phoebe died.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Caroline puts Phoebe “swathed in blankets, in a cardboard box once used to deliver samples of infant formula to the office” (21) in her car to drive her to the institution, reflecting on the baby’s good health and how unspeakable David’s decision is, which she believes is the result of shock. She remembers being sure that the baby was born dead after looking at the grief on David’s face. She reflects on her own lonely childhood being born to two worried older parents. She arrives at the house to find the inside in disrepair although the outside is warm and smells like food. She remembers David summoning her on the phone and then later when he delivered Phoebe.
She believes that Phoebe’s birth has set things into motion that cannot be contained, as she never expected her life to be ordinary, but thought she might travel in foreign lands, perhaps working at clinics she set up. Earlier, she had applied many times for medical missionary work, but the trips always fell through. She remembers the day David showed up at the office while she was still waiting to go on another trip. She had been taking care of an elderly male patient who expressed his love for his deceased wife, wondering if she would ever find love. She fell in love with David at first sight, which her coworkers remarked on:“She was secretly pleased, too, for the rumors might reach him in a way that she, with her shyness, could not” (27). She remembers David catching her watching him as he slept, and she believed he knew she saw him; she waited for David to make his move, but three weeks later he was married to Norah.
Now, Caroline waits for someone to help her at the institution, thinking that “it was not fair, not fair at all, that Norah Henry should have so much, should have her seamless happy life” (28). When no one comes to help Caroline, she wanders alone through the hallways, finding nurses cutting a patient’s hair. She remembers the baby and hurries back to care for Phoebe. She thinks of how David spends his spare time caring for poor patients free of charge but also sent his daughter to this place. A woman finally finds Caroline and assumes that she is from the insidious formula company. She chastises Caroline and tells her to leave. Caroline takes Phoebe, arguing with herself and a fantasized David as well until she is too tired to do anything. An accident stops traffic in front of her, and Caroline realizes she is low on gas, so she reverses to the previous exit.
Caroline stops at a grocery store, taking Phoebe inside with her and buying things necessary for a baby. People stop her to coo at Phoebe and reprimand Caroline for having a young child out in a storm. Phoebe finally wakes up and starts crying, so Caroline goes to a bathroom to give her a bottle. When she leaves the store, they lock the doors behind her. She reflects on how she hasn’t eaten since last night and how the weathermen frequently fail in their predictions. When she gets to the car, she realizes she has left the lights on. Caroline loses it and starts screaming, “‘I have a baby”’ (35),into the stillness of the night.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Norah wakens to Paul crying and she breastfeeds him to quiet him. She thinks about her daughter and how David cried when he told her that the baby had been born dead. She only remembers snippets from the night that she gave birth:“It was not until they left the office [...] that the loss had finally penetrated” (37).She tried to get David to take her to the grave where he had buried their daughter, but David refused. Now, she dreams “every night of lost things” (39). She and Paul fall asleep; she wakes to his crying and changes him again, thinking of breastfeeding and his fragility and her daughter’s death all at once. Norah goes downstairs and encounters Bree. Bree makes some food, and Norah thinks about how jealous she is of her sister’s freedom and lack of responsibilities.
Norah reflects on how proud her mother was that Norah always followed the rules of proper ladylike behavior, unlike her scandalous younger sister.She remembers their father, whose alienation from her mother and death when she and Bree were teenagers made Norah want “to make things right again” (41) by following expectations. Bree commented on Norah’s perfect life, which intensified Norah’s envy. Then when Norah got pregnant, Bree was always there for support, which Norah appreciates even though she is still uncomfortable at Bree’s progressive behavior and ideas, especially those concerning breastfeeding.
Bree asks how David and Norah are doing, questioning why David is working so much. Norah confesses that no one else will talk to her about the daughter she lost, and Bree criticizes David for using work as an excuse to shut himself away. Norah defends David but thanks Bree for her support.
Norah showers and then tries on a bunch of outfits: “the ungainliness of her body amazed and depressed her” (44). She gets upset when she thinks of how messy their house is, but also realizes she doesn’t care. A group of ladies from church shows up, and Norah refuses to put on normal clothes or makeup, defiant in how terrible she believes she looks. The ladies chat, and one mentions that another woman gave birth to a healthy daughter, which makes everyone go silent. The ladies pull out gifts to break the tension;Norah knows that one lady had been knitting two blankets because she’d correctly ascertained that Norah would have twins. But when Norah opens the second package, it is not another blanket, but a playsuit for Paul. Norah gets upset, wanting the other blanket for Phoebe, and starts yelling before collapsing on the sofa. Bree makes the other women leave, and then they talk about Phoebe. Bree suggests Norah hold a memorial service, pushing Norah when she is reticent about what David will think. Norah starts making arrangements,and Bree leaves for class. Norah cleans, dresses, and puts on makeup. When David comes home, she tells him about the memorial service, and he gets mad at her for being stubborn. She asks him about the distance between them, and he dismisses her concern. Norah gets angry and goes upstairs to feed Paul, falling asleep. When she wakes up, it is dark, and she considers the beauty in the difference between darkness and the light.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Stuck in the parking lot, Caroline goes to check the grocery store. Finding it locked, she kicks the door. A large man asks what’s wrong, and Caroline explains that she has a newborn and a dead car battery:“Ridiculous, an idea she had always loathed, and yet here she was—a damsel in distress” (54). The stranger tells her that any garage she calls will be closed and offers his warm truck for them to sit in. She is reluctant but eventually accepts his help, although she also worries that he might be a murderer. Caroline feeds Phoebe, and she and the trucker talk about the weather, where he’s from, and the loneliness of his work. The trucker, Al, offers to give Caroline a lift to her house so that she can call a shop in the morning for her car. He gives her hot coffee, and he tells her stories as they drive. When they get to her apartment, Caroline’s nosy neighbor watches her enter her apartment. Caroline offers her couch to Al for the night. Al asks after her husband, and Caroline says she doesn’t have one anymore. Al says he doesn’t want to cause her grief but eventually decides to stay the night. Phoebe starts crying, but Al goes to sleep unbothered, and Caroline puts Phoebe in a makeshift crib from her dresser drawer. She wakes up in the middle of the night to feed and change her, “tasks now that only she could do, tasks that could not wait” (58).
Caroline wakes up to Al making breakfast, and she tells him she’s thinking of moving to Pittsburgh, surprising herself with her impulsive decision. Al says he’s sorry about the baby’s father, then offers to take them to Nashville with him. Caroline thanks him but declines. Al leaves, and Caroline almost runs after him. Caroline spends the next few days caring for Phoebe, calling in to work to say she’s sick. Her nosy neighbor stops by, which annoys Caroline: “There was something not quite right about her eagerness, an eerie kind of voyeurism in her need for bad news, and Caroline usually tried to keep a distance” (60). Caroline lies and tells her that Al is her cousin, then concocts a story about Al’s fictitious wife who has cancer and their baby who she is now caring for. She introduces her neighbor to Phoebe, who already feels familiar and a source of pride.
Caroline does not leave the house but keeps expecting David to show up, wanting Phoebe back. Al sends Caroline flowers, and Caroline finds the announcement for Phoebe’s memorial service in the newspaper:“She read the words once and then again. She even touched them, as if this would make them clearer somehow, explicable” (63). She calls work to say she won’t be coming in again, then leaves a message asking David to call her. David shows up at her apartment, and Caroline confronts him, explaining she kept Phoebe because the institution was terrible. He tells her to do whatever she must and that he will take the blame; she thinks about calling the police but decides against it. He tries to give her $300, but Caroline refuses it, telling him the baby’s name. He asks her to give him a head’s up with whatever she decides to do and then leaves. Caroline reflects on what her neighbors will say and thinks about leaving to start her new life.
The next morning, Caroline packs the car early, waiting to leave until her nosy neighbor goes to work. She has already made the necessary arrangements for her apartment when she leaves for the memorial service with Phoebe in the backseat. She watches the service from afar, wondering what would happen if she told Norah then and there: “For the first time Caroline understood in her body what she was about to do” (68). She watches for a little longer and then leaves. As she drives away, she begins to feel lighter with each mile she puts behind her, excited at the prospect of her future with Phoebe.
Part 1 Analysis
This first section introduces readers to the characters while also setting up the main conflict within the novel, which is more or less personified in David. The author demonstrates that David,like Norah and Caroline, is a highly conflicted person, especially because he does not share this inner turmoil with the people closest to him. All three main characters are fairly lonely, closing themselves off to the rest of the people in their lives. This creates tension in that which is unsaid between the characters, not only in David and Norah’s relationship but also in the relationship between Caroline and David. This lack of willingness to communicate one’s emotions leads all three characters to be highly guarded and to distance themselves from other people, thereby further isolating themselves. As isolated individuals, they seem to make decisions that are absolute and irrevocable, such as David’s decision to tell his wife that their daughter died. David’s plan is incredibly ill-conceived despite that he is a highly organized person and this decision affects many people’s lives. Once Caroline reaches the institution, she similarly makes a decision without thinking of the other people it affects, namely to keep Phoebe. The only person who seems to give any thought at all to the consequences of her actions is Norah, who is often prevented—both by David and by other people—from acting on this agency. Possibly as a result, Norah begins her life-long battle with depression, as evidenced in the third chapter of this section.
Just as their decisions seem highly impetuous, the way in which Caroline and David both conceptualize love is not only completely irrational but almost childlike in its adoration.Caroline falls in love with David at first sight in the same way in which he falls in love with Norah. In this way, sight is inextricably linked with love, albeit a highly romanticized and implausible version of it. In contrast, David also judges his daughter at first glance, seeing her extra chromosome and rescinding both his and his wife’s ability to love her by sending her away. In this way, sight is not only equated with love but also as a justification for its absence. The author also discusses the blindness of love, that is, that affection blinds the characters—especially the female characters—to unflattering truths about their loved ones. In Caroline’s case, she fully believes that this decision is made from the goodness of his heart, despite it being inarguably selfish. Similarly, Norah argues with her sister about David’s obsession with work among other things, such as his treatment of her. Both women seem so blind in their love for David that they entirely overlook large character flaws as the author possibly alludes to the problems associated with the idea of love at first sight. This kind of instinctual love relies heavily—if not exclusively—on appearance, representing a shallow form of love that will inevitably fade. The author sets up the issues arising in Norah’s relationship with David from the very beginning, as their relationship is wholly based on immature and idealistic visions of each other.
The author also sets up the motif of light as integral to the narrative within the first section. Any time anything important or life-altering occurs, the author references the light as a point of clarity. However, this light is often portrayed in very different ways throughout the section: Caroline encounters the cold light of the institution which shows the harsh reality for what it is; the fire gives off the warmth of honeymoon light in David and Norah’s house; Caroline also sees the light from her car seeping like blood into the snow, which solidifies her bond with Phoebe and also makes her encounter Al; and lastly, Norah associates light with her understanding—or lack thereof—of the loss of her daughter and specifically, how she has not and will never come to terms with this loss. In this way, the light represents many different things; it becomes malleable throughout the narrative much in the same way that human understanding and relationships are malleable and dynamic.
