The Secret History Chapter 8, Part Two & Epilogue Summary & Analysis

Chapter 8, Part Two & Epilogue

Summary: Chapter 8, Part Two

Richard goes to Henry’s house and finds him working in the garden. He confronts Henry, and Henry tells Richard that for his entire life he was stuck in his head, unable to make decisions until the night he killed the farmer, at which point he could live without thinking. Richard, to his horror, realizes he has felt the same way since they killed Bunny. Later, Richard and Francis go to see Julian, who tells them he received a letter from Bunny but assumed it was someone’s idea of a joke. He lets Richard and Francis read the letter, which they realize was indeed written by Bunny, and disjointedly tells of the farmer’s murder. Richard sees that the letter was typed on the back of the stationery from the hotel where Bunny and Henry stayed in Rome. Richard and Francis know they must get rid of the letter. They later find Henry at Julian’s office, where Julian notices the letterhead. Henry tells Julian everything that happened, and Julian gives Henry the letter.

The next day, Julian does not show up to class, though the Dean of Studies does, to announce that Julian has left the school indefinitely. Charles and Henry argue while meeting with a lawyer about the drunk driving charges. When Richard and Francis go to see Charles, he has been drinking heavily and shows them the pills Henry gave him to help him sleep. Charles is afraid Henry is trying to kill him, so has not taken them. Richard and Francis take Charles to the country. When Henry calls and realizes they are there, Charles becomes angry and leaves. Richard and Francis go to the hotel where Camilla is staying to look for him, and they find Henry there as well. Charles shows up with a gun from Francis’s house. He fires the gun as Francis throws wine in his face and Henry lunges at him, and the bullet hits Richard in the stomach. Henry gets control of the gun in the confusion, and as the innkeeper enters the room to see what is happening, Henry whispers something to Camilla, shoots himself in the head, and falls to the ground.

Summary: Epilogue

As Richard looks back on Henry’s death, he thinks it was a sense of duty and sacrifice learned from Julian that motivated Henry to take his own life. While Richard ended up graduating from Hampden, Francis and the twins did not return the following year, and the four students gradually lost touch with each other. Richard moved to California for graduate school. While writing his dissertation, he receives a letter from Francis indicating that he is suicidal. Richard flies to Boston, where Francis is recovering from slitting his wrists. Francis reveals he is engaged to a woman after his grandfather found out he had been dating a man. Richard also sees Camilla, who no longer talks to Charles. Before Camilla leaves, Richard expresses his love for her, though she says she still loves Henry. Recently, Richard had a dream that he was in a building with displays of exhibits of ancient civilizations. There, he saw Henry, who said he was not dead but was simply having trouble with his passport.

Analysis: Chapter 8, Part Two & Epilogue

As things unravel, Richard begins to see that even before the farmer’s death, things were not as picturesque as they appeared to be with his friends. Issues such as incest, violent tendencies, and alcoholism existed long before the bacchanal in the woods, but they came to light only after the students gave in to their basest urges. In Richard’s first class with Julian, Julian described how repressing these base instincts would only make the urges stronger. However, the opposite seems to have been proved with the fallout of the bacchanal, as one murder only made the group more likely to commit another murder. Henry and Richard even discover that committing murder made them feel more alive, revealing the darkness that exists within them. It seems that even those who are most appealing on the outside contain layers of dark secrets, and judgments should not be made solely on appearances.

The climax of the novel occurs with Henry’s suicide. He whispers in Camilla’s ear before pulling the trigger, but the reader cannot know what he said because Richard, the narrator, does not know. Earlier in the novel, Richard had observed how most students at Hampden seemed to be playacting at life, especially when professing their grief for Bunny, whom most of them did not even know. Though Richard seemed to scoff at this “show,” his friend Henry is largely doing the same thing. First, in attempting the bacchanal, Henry is trying to live as an ancient Greek figure. Similarly, with his final act of sacrificing himself for his friends, he seems to be filling the role of the tragic hero. Henry explains to Richard that, before killing the farmer, he had trouble living in the real world. However, he still does not seem to be living in the real world but rather playacting the myths they learn about in class. Henry, despite acting authoritatively to the point that Richard idolized him, was not much more knowledgeable about life than any other college student.

Even after Henry dies and the rest of the group all move on from Hampden, the consequences of their secrets continue to haunt them. Francis tries to kill himself, while Charles and Camilla’s relationship breaks down. Though Richard graduates and moves away, he is unable to move on from his love for Camilla. Even many years later, Richard’s dreams are still haunted by Henry, who in Richard’s mind is not dead, suggesting Richard still sees Henry as a somewhat mythical creature. Though they are all connected and plagued by their common dark secret, it pushes them apart instead of bringing them together.

After learning the truth about Bunny’s death, Julian’s departure suggests that he knows he was in some way responsible for what happened. Though Julian was not present for the murders, he seems to have been aware of or at least suspected what was happening. It is only when he is presented with the letter and the information that he knows he can no longer ignore reality. While the students have seen Henry as their ringleader, Julian seems to be the one who has truly been controlling the puppet strings, first by isolating his students from the rest of the school and then by encouraging Henry to attempt the bacchanal. In the end, Richard realizes it is Julian’s teachings that encouraged Henry to kill himself. Though Henry was the one playacting, Julian seems to have been the director of the entire play, using his charm and intellect to manipulate his students.

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