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Part VI: Places (1986)
Chapters Sixteen & Seventeen
Summary: Chapter Sixteen
By the time Stella returns to Louisiana in 1986, she is surprised to learn that Mallard is no longer listed on any map, having been allocated to Palmetto after a 1980 census. After months of not hearing from Kennedy, Stella and Blake receive a letter from her telling them that she moved to Europe to find herself, an idea that Stella rejects. While Blake goes away on a business trip, Stella makes the decision to return to Louisiana to convince Desiree to persuade Jude to stop contacting Kennedy.
After Mallard was renamed, the people in the town joked that they should change the name of Lou’s Egg House to Desiree’s, since she practically runs the diner now. When Desiree wonders what life outside of Lou’s looks like, she recalls visiting Jude and Reese in Minneapolis. During her time there, Desiree hassled Jude about when she and Reese would marry. Jude retorted that the situation between them wasn’t that different from Early and Desiree’s relationship. In Minneapolis, Reese freelances for the Minnesota Daily, and takes pictures for local events. Reese assures Desiree of his love and intention for Jude. On a snowy evening during her visit, Desiree asks about a girl in a photograph who, unbeknownst to her, is Kennedy. Jude and Reese say that she is just a friend they used to have in Los Angeles.
Life has moved on for Early, too. After the death of Big Ceel, Early quits bounty hunting and gets a job at an oil refinery. When he isn’t working, he takes care of Adele as her memory worsens. One day after taking Adele out fishing, they return home to find a white woman on the porch. At first, Early worries that she is a government worker checking on Adele’s well-being. To Early’s shock, Adele calls out to Stella to help them clean the fish.
Inside the kitchen, Stella tries to clean the fish, but cries when she does not remember the next step in the process. Adele, still suffering from severe memory loss, directs Stella to pick up Desiree from work before dinner. Stella goes to Lou’s Egg House. When Desiree sees Stella, Desiree is hurt and standoffish at first, but the two soon embrace and Stella begs Desiree for forgiveness. When Marvin Landry, the only patron in Lou’s at the time of the event, would describe the reunion later, he would recount seeing “Desiree Vignes wrapped around herself.”
Back home, Desiree, Stella, Adele, and Early have dinner. Afterward, Stella and Desiree spend the night drinking gin and reconnecting, catching each other up on stories from their lives. Stella tells Desiree about Blake and Kennedy, and the reason she is back in Mallard is because Jude found Kennedy and told her about Stella’s past. She assures Desiree that the fact that Jude never told Desiree about finding Stella is a sign that Desiree is a good mother; Jude wanted to protect Desiree. For this reason, Stella continues, Kennedy cannot know that she has lied to her all these years.
The following morning, Stella attempts to sneak out of the house and return to Los Angeles without saying goodbye, but Early catches her. He offers to give her a ride. At the airport, Stella hands Early her wedding ring, telling him to sell it and take care of Adele. Desiree weeps when she finds Stella gone that morning. A month later, Stella picks Kennedy up from the airport. Kennedy asks about her missing ring, and rather than lie, Stella tells Kennedy that she gave it to her sister. On the ride back home, Stella tells Kennedy that she can ask her whatever she wants about her past.
Summary: Chapter Seventeen
At the University of Minnesota, Jude dissects cadavers with general ease, to the point of fascination. One day, Desiree calls Jude and says that Adele passed away. During this time, Jude learns from Barry how the AIDS epidemic has impacted West Hollywood. Every day, another person they know dies. Jude participates in activist meetings and volunteers with student groups handing out condoms and clean needles. Adele would never donate her body to science, Jude thinks, as Adele was Catholic and adamantly opposed to cremation. The day she learns of her grandmother’s passing, Jude returns home and tells Reese that she plans to go to the funeral on Friday.
The afternoon Adele passes away, Jude calls Kennedy on the set of Pacific Cove to tell her of their grandmother’s passing. Though Kennedy never met her grandmother, Jude thinks she should know nonetheless. That night, Jude asks Reese to accompany her to Mallard. She thinks about how they broke up when she moved to Minnesota, Reese telling Jude that she could do better. One snowy night in her first year, Jude recalls, Reese was outside her apartment and they got back together.
Early picks Jude and Reese up and drives them back to Mallard. Jude hardly believes that this was the town she left years ago and is hit by the fact that her grandmother will not be there to greet them. That evening while helping Desiree cook dinner, Jude asks Desiree if her father loved her. Desiree explains that every person who has hurt her has also loved her, so she didn’t want to stick around to find out if Jude’s father loved her. In the morning, Desiree prods Reese again about marrying Jude, telling him that he will make a good father. Jude hears this knowing that they won’t be able to get married unless Reese gets a new birth certificate.
After the funeral, Desiree and Early move to Houston. Early gets a job at an oil refinery, while Jude works at a call center. Desiree is anxious at first after not having worked in an office for over thirty years, but Early reassures her that she has a pleasant and inviting voice. Desiree wonders if Stella would recognize her if she were to call. On the day of Adele’s funeral, the town anticipates seeing Jude at the repast. Instead, Jude and Reese sneak out and go to a river nearby, holding each other in the water and hoping that it will wash away their past.
Analysis: Chapters Sixteen & Seventeen
The novel’s final chapters explore the theme of the freedom of honesty. Desiree leads an honest life in which she is loved and admired. She is a central figure in Mallard and is in a strong, trusting relationship. Though Stella’s absence means that Desiree must remain in Mallard as the sole caretaker of their mother, Desiree eventually embraces the situation and makes a life for herself. Stella’s deceit and Desiree’s honesty both manifest themselves in each mother-daughter relationship. Though Stella ultimately tells her daughter the truth, she lied to her for years, and there’s a sense that the love and trust they once shared is now damaged. Desiree is wounded by her daughter’s secret meeting with Stella, but Jude and Desiree remain close and openly share their lives with each other. Though Stella sought freedom by leaving Mallard, her lies have trapped her in a cage of her own making, while Desiree’s honesty has allowed her to live freely.
The final section of the novel also explores the peace on the other side of grief. The narrative has traced each character’s struggle to understand who they are and how they relate to and belong to each other. These closing chapters bring the real death of Adele, the matriarch of the Vignes family, and the metaphorical death of Desiree’s long-held hope that she and Stella can be as close as they once were. Desiree and Stella finally see each other, and though they remember the beauty of their connection as children, their reunion solidifies the fact that they will never truly be sisters again. This knowledge, along with the end of her mother’s suffering, allows Desiree the freedom to finally leave Mallard behind, and she and Early move to Houston. There is also new hope for her daughter. Jude and Reese escape the sadness of Adele’s funeral and go to the river, where they reveal their bodies fully to each other in the sunlight. They skinny-dip in the river together, allowing the water to wash away their shame and pain.
