The Memory Keeper's Daughter August 1977, Parts I–II Summary & Analysis

August 1977, Parts I–II

Summary: Part I

David arrives late for Paul’s high school music concert, and he takes satisfaction in Norah’s irritation. They snipe at each other until shushed by another parent in the audience. David lives with the secret knowledge of her affair with Howard in Aruba. Unbeknownst to Norah, David and Paul’s fishing trip had been canceled that day. He and Paul returned to the cottage, finding it empty. Paul went for a run on the beach and returned in a foul mood, locking himself in his room. David went for a walk and encountered Norah’s discarded clothing and the sounds of their laughter coming from Howard’s cottage. David speculated that Paul might have seen the same thing on his run. David does not confront Norah about her affair with Howard given his own transgression.

Paul’s beautiful classical guitar performance moves David into such emotional appreciation of his son that he thinks he’s having a heart attack. After the concert, Paul refuses Norah’s suggestions they celebrate, insults her with a flippant remark about her age, and asks to go home, where he immediately shuts himself in his room and then sneaks out the window. David follows him, and they discuss Paul’s future. Paul wants to pursue his passion for music at the prestigious Juilliard music school after his graduation. Norah supports him following his dream, but David opposes the choice of careers as too uncertain. Paul bitterly turns the topic to the infidelity in the marriage and reveals that he knows about Norah’s affair with Howard. David attempts to refocus Paul’s attention on the future, as he describes his own understanding of life as a world of unfathomable secrets. Paul rejects this view and counters with his opinion that music is a way to connect with everything. Paul ends the conversation by walking out on his father. David, agitated, writes a letter to Caroline requesting to meet Phoebe.

Summary: Part II

Paul and his friend Duke Madison engage in risk-taking behavior, standing on the tracks of an oncoming train. Paul and Duke go to Paul’s house, where they smoke weed. Duke calls a friend named Joe to buy more, and Paul raids his father’s store of cash to pay for it. Joe arrives with the drugs as well as two other classmates, and the five drink beer and smoke joints in David’s darkroom. While Paul withdraws, his friends tear up the file cabinets and scatter the prints and negatives. The next morning David grounds Paul from rehearsals until he cleans up the mess and restores order to the filing system. Father and son talk about setting goals for one’s life and how the influence of growing up impoverished motivated David to succeed to the point he could give his family everything. David challenges Paul to not throw away the advantages he has. Paul is inspired by their talk to feel a new respect for his father’s orthopedic skill.

Analysis: August 1977, Parts I–II

The story reaches a crisis point with the Henry family’s full dysfunction revealed. David and Paul both discovered Norah’s affair in Aruba, thanks to the clothes she discarded with abandon on the beach. At the time, neither said anything to the other. Paul went immediately to his room and shut out both his parents. David accepted the inevitability of Norah’s infidelity with the wall of secrecy he had erected. Since their return, David nurses his anger in secret, constrained by his own guilt over having given their daughter away to Caroline Gill thirteen years prior. Still justifying his motives, feeling like the misunderstood good guy, David fumes over his wife’s hypocrisy.

Paul’s renditions of Segovia transport David into seeing his son in a new way. As Paul’s life flashes before him, David feels as if he’s having a heart attack. This assessment coming from a doctor suggests clinical angina symptoms, and the incident foreshadows later developments in the story. When Norah makes the case for Paul’s dream to attend Julliard, perhaps David still feels the chest pain as he argues against the plan. He opposes anything less than perfect certainty.

Paul’s conflicted feelings about his mother’s infidelity and his father’s opposition to his choice of career boil over after the concert. David affirms Paul’s talent but fears Paul’s naivete about the uncertainty of a performance career. He makes the point that Paul has never wanted for anything and does not understand the importance of a steady income. Paul questions the example of security that his parents portray in the light of his mother’s infidelity. David explains his understanding that life is about the secrets people keep. Paul rejects this point of view by telling him music is about connections between people, showing that Paul clearly is maturing into his own person.

When Paul ends the dialogue, the impasse between father and son makes David retreat into his darkroom. He considers what Paul said about connection and admits that he has not found that through his photography. Agitated, he writes an impassioned letter to Caroline, pouring out his heartache over Paul’s loneliness and asking if Phoebe has fared better.

Paul and Duke’s risky behavior helps Paul work out the conflicted feelings resulting from disillusionment over his mother’s affair and discouragement over his father’s harping on his future. When they do the drugs, the effect spirals Paul down into depression and apathy even as it jacks up his friends into vandalizing his father’s darkroom. David’s response to the destruction is stern but fair. To impress upon Paul the advantages he has, David shares the trauma of his sister June’s death and the hardships of growing up impoverished. Paul, even in the midst of his angst, feels empathy and respect for his father.

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