The Hawthorne Legacy

This cluster of chapters focuses on the aftermath of a climactic event in the narrative—the explosion that almost kills Avery. This “climax” is, in fact, a red herring, as the book’s actual climax, Avery’s kidnapping, is still to come. However, at this point in the narrative, the reader is led to believe that the plane bomb will be the pinnacle of the action and that the rest of the narrative will consist only of the “denouement” (the final part in a book, after the climax, in which the plot's various strands are resolved and explained). In reality, more action lies ahead. Again, this cluster of chapters speaks to the narrative’s continual rise and fall of action, a cycle of introducing and solving one small mystery after the next—all as part of the objective of solving the largest history at stake, finding Toby/Harry.

One smaller mystery that’s solved in these chapters is that of Jackson. Jackson’s character is a pivotal plot element that brings Avery one step closer to finding Toby/Harry and spurs her personal development—her coming-of-age—by giving her an intimate look at her mother’s past. Avery is shocked to learn that her mother was in love with Toby/Harry (299). This is a sentiment Avery can identify with. Throughout the series, Avery has been warned away from falling for a Hawthorne boy. She’s constantly confronted by women who have been hurt by the Hawthornes, from her jilted lawyer Alisa (Nash’s ex-fiancee) to the deceased Emily (whose love triangle with Jameson and Grayson contributed to her death). Avery knows that love can be dangerous. Her mother’s life-long love for Toby/Harry, despite the pain it caused, shows Avery that perhaps painful love is worth risking.

These chapters also further elucidate one of the book’s central themes, the difficulties of Coming-of-Age, especially concerning self-identity and belonging. This is primarily seen in Avery’s realization of who her real family is. When Avery calls her grandmother, the grandmother makes it clear she wants nothing to do with Avery. This hostility leaves Avery displaced, effectively exiled by her blood relations.

In this moment, Avery ironically becomes more closely aligned with the Hawthorne brothers, who have, for the most part, been posited as being “other” from her (e.g., she was the poor, underprivileged girl while they were the rich and privileged boys). First, Avery and the Hawthorne boys share a legacy of being denied by their biological relatives. Second, Avery’s grandmother views her as being aligned with the Hawthornes, thanks to her inheritance. In Avery’s grandmother’s eyes, her inheritance of the Hawthorne money effectively means Avery has inherited the guilt that this fortune brings, including the guilt of the Hawthorne Island fire.

Following the plane explosion, the book uses the literary device of a dream vision to explore Avery’s conflicting emotions. Avery has fictitious conversations with her mother, urging her to keep fighting, and overhears conversations between Grayson and Jameson about Avery. The conversation she hears solidifies her newfound alignment with the Hawthorne boys as they once again discuss the need to protect her.

The aftermath of the plane explosion also shows a distinct shift in one of the most important relationships Avery has developed throughout the narrative: her romantic subplot with Jameson. Faced with the prospect of Avery’s death, Jameson finally grants her the respect of viewing her fully as an independent person, an active agent, not just a passive object in the puzzle game they’re trying to solve. Jameson also identifies the alignment between himself and Avery, echoing Avery’s grandmother’s insistence on classifying Avery as a Hawthorne, as Jameson tells Avery, “You aren’t a mystery to me, Avery, because deep down, we’re the same” (314).

The shift in Avery’s and Jameson’s relationship sets them up to work as a team in solving the final mystery of Toby/Harry. Jameson has even waited for Avery to wake up before pursuing the clue they got from Jackson—the mysterious metal disk. Jameson recognizes the significance of this fact (in the past, he’d always race ahead to crack every clue first) and attaches emotional meaning to it: “When you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, if it’s going to be me—just flip that disk. Heads, I kiss you. Tails, you kiss me. And either way, it means something” (315). Ironically, while these chapters set up Avery and Jameson to work as a team to solve the mystery, ultimately, Avery will have to overcome the final hurdle in her journey—her kidnapping—alone, without Jameson’s help. This reflects the Coming-of-Age theme and the fact that, ultimately, a person can only enter adulthood and become a fully realized, self-sufficient grownup alone. Yes, individual people and a supportive community or family can help. But being an adult is ultimately about standing on your own two feet. Avery’s coming-of-age story can thus only be concluded by her alone, not her as a team with Jameson (or anyone else).