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“I would very much like to be part of your family, Miss Zott,” she said. “I hope that’s not too bold.”
“Please, call me Elizabeth. And you are family, Avery. Madeline understood this a long time ago. It’s not Mr. Wilson she put on the family tree—it’s you.”
In this quote from the end of the novel, Avery Parker expresses her desire to be part of Elizabeth and Mad’s family. Although Avery is Mad’s biological grandmother, in a way she belongs more to the “found” family category than the conventional family structure. Although she’s a latecomer into the Zott household, Elizabeth makes her very welcome, inviting her to meet the whole family just after this. It’s a group which includes biological relatives, friends, and their dog Six-Thirty. Elizabeth points out too that Avery appears in Mad’s family tree project; the little girl has already decided that Avery is there to stay. Elizabeth and Mad are more used to unusual family structures than Avery is; nothing about their nuclear family sticks to 1960s American conventions. Inviting her n in this way allows Avery to see that familial bonds can exceed the biological limitations of blood (or even species, in the case of Six-Thirty).
Thus the topic of family was like a cordoned-off room on a historic home tour. One could still tip a head in to get a vague sense that Calvin had grown up somewhere (Massachusetts?) and that Elizabeth had brothers (or was it sisters?)—but there was no opportunity to step inside and sneak a peek at the medicine cabinet.
This quotation comes from an early part of Lessons in Chemistry when Elizabeth and Calvin are still feeling each other out. Both of these awkward characters have tension and insecurity surrounding their family history, and the metaphor the author uses here illustrates that for the reader. In the “historic homes” this quote references, visitors can get a glimpse of the “cordoned-off” rooms, but they can’t go inside for a closer look. Similarly, Calvin and Elizabeth are only familiar with the most basic facts about each other’s families; the intimate details remain unexplored. Because they care about each other and don’t want to pry, neither Calvin nor Elizabeth feels comfortable asking the basic, important questions. At this point, Elizabeth and Calvin only have a vague understanding of the shape of one another’s family history: their mental “medicine cabinets” which contain the private, painful information are still firmly closed.
He’d not had much experience with families, but he’d always assumed that being part of one was important: a prerequisite for stability, what one relied on to get through the hard times. He’d never really considered that a family could actually be the hard times.
This passage comes from an intimate conversation Calvin and Elizabeth have about their family histories, conducted as they lie naked in bed after having sex. Elizabeth had hesitantly begun to describe the horrible relationship her father had with her brother. Calvin doesn’t have a family, and before this discussion with Elizabeth, he’d assumed that a family would be mostly a source of comfort, providing stability and support during difficult patches of life. As Elizabeth speaks, he acknowledges mentally that this was a somewhat naive and idealistic view. Elizabeth’s family did not act as a support structure for her, and they actively undermined the happiness and safety of her brother. This passage brings Calvin to the realization that sometimes the families people choose are more consistent and reliable than the ones they’re born into.
“Please understand. I want us to be a family—a real family. It’s important to me, maybe because I lost my family—I don’t know. What I do know is that ever since I met you, I’ve felt there should be three of us. You, me, and a…a…"
Here, Calvin is trying to explain why he’s so desperate for Elizabeth to accept his marriage proposal. She’s already begun saying no, but he needs her to understand how important creating a family is to him. Having found a partner he loves, taking the step of building a life together feels particularly significant because of the loss of his own family. The hesitation and unfinished parts at the end of this short speech point to how emotional and upset the idea of losing Elizabeth or not being “three of us” make him. Elizabeth, who doesn’t want to have children or get married, is hurt and shocked by the request when he initially makes it. When he gets to the end, where he implies that he wants them to have children, she’s gone from shocked to terrified. She’s very relieved, however, when he explains that by “the three of us” he means himself, herself, and a dog.
