If Something Happens to Me

At the novel’s close, the major protagonists find happiness, chiefly through wrestling with The Difficulty of Escaping the Past and finding some measure of success in doing so. Ryan is a clear example of a character who has struggled with a traumatic history for his entire adult life and hidden behind the façade of a false identity to avoid confronting his past. However, the novel’s incidents force him to come to terms with his past. For years, he carried around the guilt of not protecting Alison, but when he has a second chance to fight for her and save her from O, he throws himself into the effort and finds a sense of redemption in doing so. Moreover, he also comes clean about his past to Nora and finds that she is supportive and understanding—she doesn’t judge him or criticize his actions, and her growing romantic feelings for him are not thwarted by his revelations. Ryan also discovers that his roommate, Eddie, had long discovered that Ryan had taken on a fake name to escape his past; yet this had not changed their friendship. Even Ryan’s other law school classmates are supportive when they find out about Ryan’s past. By grabbing the chance to redeem himself in his own eyes by confronting his past and protecting Alison, and by embracing friendship and love, Ryan is able to escape his past and embrace a happy, positive future.

Poppy and her family also succeed at moving past their painful pasts. By succeeding at her new job, Poppy overcomes the sense of shame she felt due to being discharged from the military for hitting a superior who sexually harassed her. At the novel’s opening, she also felt she had failed by returning to her hometown and living with her father; however, she comes to embrace this with her newfound professional success. Her father escapes his past entanglements in the murder of Patrick and his companion due to Poppy’s effective investigating. Dash, too, is more cheerful and open with his family after overcoming his worry and guilt about Alison’s disappearance.

While Alison may still struggle with the past after the series of traumatic events she faced, concluding with her father’s death, but she at least succeeds in retaining and solidifying her current identity as Sophia. This is notable, given the novel’s emphasis on The Illusory Nature of Personal Identity. Alison struggles throughout the novel with trying to understand who she is. Additionally, as she and her father hide from the O’Learys, she is forced to assume new identities for her safety, and this compounds her confusion about her sense of self. However, she can now keep her identity as Sophia without worrying about whether her past will impede on her present. She is pursuing her career as an artist and gallery owner, and she can look to the future. Additionally, Poppy, too, has grown comfortable with who she is, especially with regard to her sexuality. While she is interested in Chantelle throughout the novel, she never acknowledges that this is a romantic interest until the end, when she feels confident to fully embrace her identity.

As the novel comes to a close, it highlights parallels or echoes to the beginning of the book to show how the characters have grown and changed. For instance, the gathering of law students at the novel’s end echoes their gathering in Italy at the beginning—however, they now understand one another better and trust each other more. Their friendship has grown and deepened. Further, Ryan walks with Nora in the rain and kisses her at the end of the novel. In the novel’s opening scene, he gets caught with Alison in the rain and runs into the car to avoid getting wet. In both cases, he is enamored with his girlfriend. In the beginning, however, he was nervous and uncertain if he wanted intimacy, which symbolically fits with him running from the rain. At the end, he is confident about his relationship, and he pulls Nora to him and suggesting that they walk into the rain instead of calling a ride. His attitude shows that Ryan has grown into a responsible person who can handle challenges and has the courage to face whatever the future may throw at him.

However, the storytelling technique of drawing parallels to the novel’s beginning does not spell a happy end for everyone. The third epilogue chapter relates how Chaz’s old enemy murders him. Chaz has found a measure of redemption through the novel’s events. In his first appearance in Part 1, he talks with Shane about raising children. He admits that he didn’t raise his own son well but has hopes for his gentle grandson. In the epilogue, Chaz’s tender interaction with his grandson illustrates how he has fulfilled that hope. That partial redemption has also extended to his work protecting Alison from retribution from the O’Leary clan. However, Chaz’s first appearance in the novel also included him killing a member of the rival Sabatino family on Shane’s orders. Chaz had misgivings at the time, warning Shane that the Sabatinos would strike back. In the epilogue, about 10 years after that first incident, the Sabatinos exact their revenge. Chaz calmly accepts this, believing that his choice to be a good soldier to the O’Learys has naturally led to this moment. He hopes to insulate his grandson from The Trap of Cycles of Violence that he could not extricate himself or his son from. This ending provides a measure of justice for the harm he’s done to others, including Ken’s death, while still acknowledging the chance for some redemptive choices.