A Spark of Light

This section of the novel continues to develop Hugh and George as foils for one another and, in doing so, emphasizes the theme of The Complexities of the Father-Daughter Relationship. In his role as hostage negotiator, Hugh tries to connect with George on the topic of fatherhood, commiserating with him about raising teenage girls and the struggle to get them to open up. Hugh thinks at one point that being a parent is like carrying a fragile soap bubble around. He grapples with the fear of losing Wren, especially now: “You lived in daily fear of watching it burst, of breaking it yourself. Somehow you knew that if it disappeared, you would, too” (195). Hugh is so desperate to protect Wren that he breaks a key rule of hostage negotiation—he keeps working the scene even when he is directly involved in it.

George also fears losing Lil. However, despite this similarity, Hugh and George have fundamental differences in their approach to fatherhood. Hugh thinks that you cannot protect your child from the world by hiding them from it: “All you wanted to do was tuck [them] away, safe from natural disasters and violence and prejudice and sarcasm, but that was not an option” (195). He allowed Wren to grow up and have more freedom even though it frightens him. George, on the other hand, sees his identity as a father in being Lil’s protector. He frequently imagines himself as the prince in a fairy tale or the superhero in a film. In her early childhood, he briefly doubted his faith, thinking, “What twisted deity would grant you the superpower of fatherhood to protect someone who, one day, would not need you?” (203). His love for Lil ended up being expressed in shame and control, and Lil felt that she couldn’t come to him with her problems when she found herself pregnant.

Izzy also uses fairy tales to make sense of her identity, but her imagination takes her in a different direction from George’s. When George allows her to take Bex to the authorities, Izzy steps outside and imagines that she sees Parker but dismisses the idea as belonging to a fairy tale. She is “not the one being rescued now, and anyway, in her fairy tale, she [i]s still afraid that any moment the prince might realize she [i]s just a poor villager, posing as a princess” (123). This fairy tale imagery represents the way Izzy views herself as unworthy of Parker on some level, though he clearly does not think so. She imagines a fairy tale where she does not deserve a happy ending and is an imposter princess.

In this instant, she is also tempted to leave with Bex and abandon the people inside. However, during the moment of temptation, she has a memory of her mother at their dining room table, admonishing her brothers for fighting over who had more food. She told her children, “You don’t look at another person’s plate to see if they have more than you. You look to see if they have enough” (125). Remembering this exchange, Izzy thinks about Louie and runs back inside to “the gaping mouth of the clinic door” (125). Izzy rewrites the fairy tale, becoming a heroic character who runs toward the “gaping mouth” of the monster to save another person. This instance of bravery exemplifies the qualities that Parker sees and loves in her, even if Izzy does not yet realize that she is worthy of that love.

The theme of The Personal and Societal Impacts of Abortion develops throughout this section as Picoult continues to trace the backstories of the characters to illuminate what brought them to the Center on this day. The impacts are complex and sometimes contradictory; for instance, Joy felt a sense of relief after her procedure, knowing that she would be unable—and unwilling—to raise a child on her own. Her experience made her even more firm in her belief that all women should have the right to choose. Conversely, Janine’s personal experience, which she thinks about but does not share with the other characters, only confirmed her opposition to abortion. As in the previous sections, Beth’s situation as a 17-year-old charged with murder after visiting an emergency room represents broader societal fallout as laws around issues of access and parental consent tighten. Beth’s situation was made worse by what, for her, seems to be a random twist of bad luck: The judge’s trip to Belize, which of course has nothing to do with Beth’s case, came at a crucial moment in her pregnancy and left her with few options other than obtaining the pills illegally.

The complex situations that have brought women like Joy and Izzy to the clinic, as well as the stories of the other characters, reaffirm the theme of The Role of Empathy in Understanding Contentious Issues. Under extreme circumstances, empathy can emerge even without full understanding. Janine and Joy, for instance, remain at odds on the issue of abortion itself, even though they are able to connect with each other on an emotional level, laying the groundwork for future conversations. However, as Picoult suggests, empathy for one or two individuals may distort an issue as well as illuminate it. George, as far as he knows, has met only one woman who had an abortion—Alice, a fellow parishioner, whose decision was based solely on medical necessity and who regretted having an abortion even though she was able to get pregnant again. George empathized with her when they talked at church, but the bar for meriting his empathy is high; Alice is clearly portrayed as not having wanted the abortion, as having sought religious counsel, and as someone who would fit the legal exception for “the life of the mother.” She was also clearly regretful about the whole situation. Thus, while knowing Alice helps George understand the necessity for some abortions, it doesn’t help him feel more sympathy for women like Izzy or Joy, who sought terminations for other reasons—and it does not allow him to understand, much less empathize with, his own daughter.

Throughout this section, Picoult uses the motif of a spark of light to represent the presence of love and hope. Though Wren is frightened when she is trapped in the Center, she remembers stargazing with her father and talking about Betelgeuse becoming a “spark of light.” She told her father that the sky was beautiful, and he agreed, but “when she turned he wasn’t looking at the meteors. He was looking at her” (163). This memory reminds Wren that she matters and is loved, no matter what happens. Though she hopes to survive, if she dies like the star she watched, she knows that she will be remembered.