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 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 7: “1989”
Part 7, Chapter 22 Summary: “July 1, 1989”
Norah goes back to the house to sift through David’s photography in his studio:“David’s work was in favor again, worth quite a lot of money; curators were coming tomorrow to view the collection” (361). She gets lost in the memory these photographs arouse as she sorts through them. She thinks of how different she looks in these photos than she remembers being, and all the things she meant to do with the house:“In two months she would marry Frederic and leave this place forever” (362), moving to France for his work. She dreams of how their future will look. In David’s collection, Norah finds file folders full of pictures of girls at varying ages. Norah is confused, but knows it is not sexual. She finds identical pictures of Paul that correspond to the ages of these anonymous girls. She realizes that David had been trying to keep a record of Phoebe, just like he kept one of Paul, which meant that David missed her too. She gets lost in these joint photos of Paul and not-Phoebe:“It brought tears to her eyes, to realize how deeply David, too, had felt their daughter’s absence” (365).
Norah is interrupted by Caroline, who shows up announced and Norah does not recognize her at first. Norah remembers the day she gave birth and asks Caroline what she wants. Caroline is evasive, and Norah admits she is on the verge of leaving, making Caroline glad that she didn’t wait:“Norah thought impatiently of the photos waiting in the garage, of all she had to do that couldn’t wait” (367). Caroline tries to engage in small-talk, but Norah is brusque. Caroline asks Norah about what she remembers from the night Paul was born and Norah answers, but eventually Caroline tells her the truth: Phoebe is alive and well but was born with Down’s Syndrome,so David sent her away. Norah refuses to believe it at first, so Caroline shows her photographs of Phoebe. Norah wants to know why, and Caroline confesses that she wanted a child and was in love with David, even though she initially wanted to believe she was innocent of any wrongdoing.
Norah questions why David kept this a secret, and Caroline says he wanted to protect Norah from suffering as he did at the death of June. Norah angrily refutes Caroline’s statement:“She hadn’t known, she hadn’t guessed. But now that she’d been told, it made a terrible kind of sense” (370). Caroline gives Norah her contact information, saying that she hasn’t yet told Phoebe about her and Paul and understands if Norah doesn’t want to see Phoebe. Norah says she’s in shock but keeps the photos of Phoebe. Caroline leaves.
Norah thinks of how David is the source of her nightmares and gets angry.She starts drinking. She goes back to David’s studio and takes his boxes of photographs and notes—which the curators estimate to be worth 50 thousand dollars—and throws them out the window. She takes a shower and drinks some more. Frederic calls but she does not answer:“She pulled the afghan up and slid into the darkness of that night” (372). She drinks throughout the night, dozing fitfully, then wakes up in the morning and pours the rest of the gin down the drain. She sees David’s work “scattered like oil” (373) across the backyard. Norah drags these boxes to the side of the yard and begins lighting the photographs on fire, except the collection of pictures showing Paul’s maturation, which she saves. Although she worries that her neighbors will report her for burning things, she slowly feeds each photograph to the fire, trying to erase David’s version of history.
Part 7, Chapter 23 Summary: “July 2-4, 1989”
Paul and Michelle fight about getting married: Paul argues that getting married doesn’t mean having kids, but Michelle argues that a child is all Paul wants. Paul knows that Michelle “would leave him very soon, taking her wild beauty and her music with her” (376).Michelle accuses Paul of trying to break them up by suggesting something that would derail her career.She resists the idea of marriage because she believes that it requires women to make sacrifices. Paul refutes this, and Michelle goes to the bathroom and slams the door. Paul tells her he loves her, promising to be back for her concert the next night, and she does not say it back.Paul drives back to Lexington, thinking about how distant Michelle seems, how his parents met, and his new desire to play his song in more intimate venues, like pubs,and connect to his audience.
When he gets to his old house, he thinks of how he now has a responsibility to decide what of his past he keeps and what he discards. He remembers unsuccessfully talking to Michelle about this, who focused on Paul talking about children. Paul stands outside as the snow-ash falls around him:“Paul reached out into the hot, humid air, feeling as if he were standing in one of his father’s photographs, where trees bloomed upin the pulse of a heart, where the world was suddenly not what it seemed” (379). He goes looking for Norahand finds her crying and staring at the fire. She says she’s stopped burning the photographs because she realized that they were Paul’s inheritance as well.
Norah explains what Caroline told her about David abandoning Phoebe for Caroline to raise. Paul is stunned and also slightly fearful of no longer being an only child. Norah admits that she is angry at Caroline although she knows she should be grateful to her for taking such good care of Phoebe.
Paul tries to imagine Phoebe,but he can’t. Heis furious at David for keeping this secret from them as he thinks about photography. Norah explains that David placed all his hopes on Paul because of abandoning Phoebe. She says, “Now that I know about Phoebe, so many mysteries about your father make sense”(382). Norah shows Paul pictures of Phoebe, explaining that they resemble each other and both love music, although Phoebe loves basketball, which makes Paul bitterly suggest David chose the wrong child. They talk about visiting Phoebe’s grave, and Paul asks about Down’s Syndrome. Norah admits she doesn’t know a lot, and they discuss Caroline. Both are overwhelmed at what this means for them. They collect and sort the remaining photographs, which Paul acknowledges as both his and Phoebe’s inheritance. Norah meets with the curators, and Paul calls Michelle to say he won’t be coming to her concert. She hangs up on him and refuses to answer any of his subsequent calls.
Norah and Paul drive to Caroline’s house in Pittsburgh to meet Phoebe. They watch Caroline work in her garden for a little bit, and Norah suggests they turn around and go home. Phoebe brings water to her mom and Paul inspects her, realizing that she and he are both no longer as young as in previous photographs. They stand and watch for a little while before going to meet Caroline and Phoebe:“No one spoke. Phoebe was gazing at Paul, and after a long moment she reached across the space between them and touched his cheek, lightly, gently, as if to see if he was real” (386). Paul realizes she wants to know him but is concerned about talking to a person with Down’s Syndrome. Phoebe breaks the silence by introducing herself, and Caroline suggests they go inside.
Phoebe shows them a scarf she is making from her favorite colors, which Norah says are her favorite colors as well—what her bridesmaids wore at her wedding—and Paul is shocked to find this out. Phoebe offers the scarf to Norah when it is finished and sits down to work on it. Caroline asks her to come sit with them, and Norah says she doesn’t know where to begin. She tries to explain to Phoebe that she is her mother, but Phoebe says she doesn’t want to live with her, arguing that she is going to marry Robert.
Norah says she just wants to get to know Phoebe and hopes she’ll visit her one day. Caroline suggests Phoebe show Paul her room. Paul and Phoebe talk about Robert and losing Michelle, and Phoebe shares Paul’s pain, but then brightens when she shows him her record player. Paul wonders about Phoebe getting married, and they discuss music. Phoebe decides she likes Paul, but that she doesn’t want to live with Norah. Paul accepts this and tells her that he lives by himself. Phoebe says that he is lucky. Paul realizes “the things he took for granted in life were the stuff of Phoebe’s dreams” (390). Phoebe talks about her work at the copy shop, and Paul realizes how happy she is with her life—a concept that is alien to him. They listen to The Beatles.
Part 7, Chapter 24 Summary: “September 1, 1989”
Paul thinks about how he moped around his apartment when Michelle left him. The organist at his mother’s wedding, Alejandra, helped him through his breakup. He thinks about how he and Phoebe walked, arm-in-arm, down the aisle at his mother’s wedding. They talk about how pretty the confetti is, and how Norah is going to France. Paul suggests they go to France to visit, reassuring Phoebe that they’ll come back. Phoebe worries about eating snails, but Paul says they’re not that bad. Paul thinks about how little he knows his twin, and Phoebe talks about her and Robert getting married, which makes Paul remember meeting Robert who was excited that Paul would be his brother. Norah feeds Frederic cake, making Paul think “of his father, wondering what their wedding had been like” (393). Phoebe talks about having pink flowers at her wedding. Paul remembers how hard it was for Caroline to let Phoebe go, even for her and Al’s brief vacation.
Paul suggests he move to Pittsburgh, asking Phoebe if she’d like that,but Phoebe is more concerned about the cost of her wedding. Paul thinks how unfair the world is and suggests she and Robert elope, but Phoebe wants a proper wedding. Paul asks if she wants cake, and Phoebe says her cake will be larger. Paul makes a silly comment and they go get cake.
Norah tries to engage with Phoebe, expressing her happiness that Phoebe is there and her excitement about visiting France, but Paul explains that Phoebe worries about eating snails. Phoebe asserts that she will come back home after visiting France, which Norah agrees with. Paul and Norah discuss David’s secrecy and how it affected their lives. Norah suggests they forgive him, but Paul resists. Paul discusses his Pittsburgh job offer and how he’s going to take it. Norah cautions him that he “can’t fix the past” (396). Paul realized this sentiment the first time he met Phoebe and saw how much she enjoys her life. Norah says Paul should not feel responsible, but Paul maintains that he wants to get to know her. Norah is happy at the thought of having both her children in the same place. Norah thanks Paul for his support, and Paul says that he likes Frederic and hopes his mom will be happy. Norah says she loves him and how she is proud of both him and Phoebe. Norah and Frederic leave. Paul sees Phoebe talking loudly to an uncomfortable guest and convinces Phoebe to leave as well.
Paul and Phoebe drive through the countryside where his mom used to drunkenly drive him:“Now it was all gone, that sadness: that life was finished, gone, as well” (398). Paul starts sneezing from pollen, and Phoebe offers him a tissue. Paul thinks about what would happen if his sister hadn’t been born with Down’s Syndrome but realizes that his mother is right,and he will never know. Paul takes Phoebe to his father’s grave,contemplating how she believes Al is her father. He tries to explain this to her, but she doesn’t understand. Phoebe says that he is sad and empathizes with him, which surprises Paul. Paul walks away, thinking about David’s secret. Phoebe puts her hand on their father’s gravestone and starts singing, surprising other people in the cemetery:“For the rest of his life, he realized, he would be torn like this, aware of Phoebe’s awkwardness, the difficulties she encountered simply by being different in the world, yet propelled beyond all this by her direct and guileless love” (401). He thinks about his father and life’s dynamism. Paul sings with Phoebe and realizes she has their mother’s hands. He takes her back to her house.
Part 7 Analysis
The novel’s final section demonstrates the effect that David still has on his family, despite having been dead for a year. They are still obsessed with his behaviors, constantly talking and thinking about his thoughts and actions, as though David exists as the author’s own obsession that is projected onto the minds of the other characters. The only way in which Norah seems to be able to free herself from David’s gaze is to burn his photographs in a kind of funeral pyre in which she mourns the past and tries not to think of what could have been. This funeral pyre represents Norah’s attempt to put to bed David’s version of the past as truth becomes stronger than human will: David tried to bend the truth to suit his will by abandoning his daughter, but the truth of his secrecy and transgression came out nonetheless.
Much of the last section revolves around photography, as David’s photographs are the means by which Norah realizes that David missed Phoebe as well. Looking at his collections, she realizes that he also suffered from her loss although he was unable to communicate this anguish. David used photography as a means to connect to other people because he believed it was a way for him to communicate without words. In photos, he could communicate in silence,wherein he always felt free. Photographs also demonstrate the interconnectivity of the characters, especially those within the Henry family. When Norah and Paul look at photographs of Phoebe, they see the family resemblance, as though these photographs exist as a way to build familial connection. Similarly, in order for Norah and later for Paul to understand Phoebe’s existence, they are given photographs, as though photography can bridge the gap between assumptions and reality.
The last section also identifies the similarities between Paul and his father, who seem to regard the female characters as interchangeable: Paul uses Phoebe to help him get over the loss of Michelle, just as David had used Rosemary to help quell his guilt about abandoning Phoebe. Here, the author identifies a kind of circularity in regard to time and history as though Paul is destined to repeat the mistakes of his father, perhaps alluding to ramifications of patriarchy. Similarly, Paul thinks he loves Michelle more than Michelle loves him, just like his father thought of Norah, but their love is stifling and based on control, not a partnership. Like his father, the audience witnesses Paul use his art to connect to other people and break the distance he feels between himself and his environment. Paul also tries to use science in order to prepare himself to talk to Phoebe by studying up on clinical discussions of Down’s Syndrome. The audience imagines that this is exactly what David would have done if he had ever met Phoebe. However, this attempt fails to account for real interactions with people, demonstrating the limitations of a scientific mindset. In direct contrast, Phoebe easily bridges the gap between people, setting herself as a kind of foil for both Paul and David. She becomes the savior that they both believe themselves to be, the only character that can counteract grief and loss.
