65 pages • 2 hours read
Jodi PicoultMercy
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary
An unnamed writer describes a picture they have of the addressee; it is not one the writer took, but rather an image they chanced upon months after the addressee left. The writer reflects on how the picture shows someone they loved.
Allie meets Pauline Cioffi, Maggie’s best friend, who is unsurprised to learn that Jamie killed Maggie. She knew Maggie was going to ask him to do this; Jamie loved Maggie deeply and would have done anything Maggie asked. Pauline also asserts that Maggie admitted she wouldn’t have been able to do it if it were the other way around and that she felt guilty about this truth. Maggie was even jealous of Pauline’s marriage because it was more equal—she couldn’t give as much to Jamie as he gave to her.
Cam drives out of Wheelock, remembering the first time he and Allie had sex on a picnic date seven years ago. Cam was shocked to discover that a then-25-year-old Allie was still a virgin, and he had gotten angry that she hadn’t told him. However, Allie had soothed him and felt reassured herself when she realized that Cam was angry with himself for not being gentler with her for her first time. Now, Cam drives to Shelley Pass, the first town past Wheelock, looking to buy a gift for Allie. He buys a stained-glass panel of daffodils set against a blue background that is the same shade as Mia’s eyes.
The following morning, Cam’s secretary brings him the mail, which includes a letter from Mia apologizing for leaving this way and returning the shop keys. She claims that although she has slept with other men, Cam is the only one she has “made love” with. Cam rushes to the Inn, but Mia is already gone. He returns to find Allie at his office, thrilled after having chanced upon the stained-glass panel.
Allie hangs the panel up in their bedroom and tells Cam about how she is confident they have gathered enough evidence to allow Jamie to walk. Cam asserts he would never kill her, despite loving her, and Allie agrees, reflecting that they are not like Jamie and Maggie at all. Cam tells Allie that Mia has left town due to a family emergency. He pretends to be asleep and rejects Allie’s advances in bed, feeling worse when he hears her masturbate next to him.
Unable to sleep at night, Graham reflects on the complications of a mercy-killing plea and how if he uses it and wins, he will be setting precedent. He ponders different legal aspects of such an event, including how one can legally establish the difference between euthanasia and murder.
Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary
Cam approaches Balmoral “Bally” Beene, an investigator, to help him find Mia and is stunned to learn that Ian had used Bally to keep tabs on Cam when he was younger and traveling the world. As Cam gives Bally Mia’s details, Bally muses about how the first case Ian ever asked for Bally’s help on was also to find a woman: Ellen.
Cam visits Ellen, who can sense he is angry. He tells her about Bally, and she reveals she is the one who asked Ian to keep tabs on Cam to ensure his safety. Cam asks Ellen why she ran away, and she reveals she is actually a year younger than she claims: She got pregnant at 17 and didn’t think Ian, 11 years older than her, wanted to be tied down yet. However, he tracked her down, and they got married, fudging her age to say she was 18; Cam was born prematurely seven months later.
In a flashback to the night that Maggie asks Jamie to kill him, he wakes up in the middle of the night to find her in his home office, wearing the helmet and glove and using the virtual reality system. He watches as she walks through the design of the elementary school until she finds a mirror. She then unrobes and touches her own body, smiling as the virtual reality helps her see and believe that she is touching a healthy breast and body. With tears in his eyes, Jamie retires Maggie’s robe and slips off the glove, reminding her that “out here, still waiting, [is] the real world” (193).
An unnamed person writes about how once, in the middle of a boring meeting, they fantasized about meeting the addressee again. They had to step out to collect themselves and walked back in thinking that they would do anything to see the addressee again.
Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary
Bally finds Mia in North Adams, 15 minutes away from Wheelock, and obtains a spare key to her apartment for Cam. Cam drives there to find it empty and waits for Mia to return. When she does, he asks her why she left; she points out that she couldn’t stay, and he retaliates that he can’t let her leave. When Mia asserts that she left him because she loved him, Cam leaves, saying, “Don’t do me any favors” (203).
Four days later, Cam watches Allie unload the dishwasher and criticizes her just to get a rise out of her, wanting to take out the frustration on her that Mia has still not returned. When Allie tries to pacify him, he snaps at her and leaves. Allie feels bad, thinking about how Cam had looked at her like he didn’t like her. Later that night, she puts on her wedding lingerie and goes to Cam in bed, asserting that she doesn’t want to fight anymore. Cam agrees and pulls her close, and they have sex. Later, Cam reflects on how rough he is with Allie, contrasting how much gentler lovemaking with Mia had been.
Audra presents Jamie’s case and the Murder One charges in front of a grand jury, bringing in her witnesses. Hugo is first, and he recounts the events following Jamie’s arrival at the station, confirming Maggie’s death by asphyxiation. However, he also reveals evidence of chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and the mastectomy scar on Maggie’s body and recalls how distraught Jamie was at Maggie’s funeral. C.J. MacDonald, the officer who examined the scene of the murder at the Wheelock Inn, is next and recounts how the police recreated what happened from evidence collected. As the arresting officer, Cam is called to recount the signed confession he received from Jamie about having willingly murdered Maggie, albeit on her instructions. After the grand jury, Audra exits the courthouse, triumphantly telling the media that Jamie has been indicted.
At home, Graham assures a glum Jamie that he is not an exception; a grand jury indicts everyone. After Graham leaves, Angus tells Jamie about his own wife, Fiona, who died in her sleep years ago, just as she had always hoped for. Angus points out that Maggie and Fiona went how they wished.
A stressed-out Allie works on the flowers for a wedding in the church. She shows a guest how mimosa petals retract when touched; they are used in weddings because it is believed that if a girl who has sinned passes by the flowers, the petals will shrink. Mia arrives unexpectedly, and Allie is thrilled to see her back. As Mia begins helping by working on a chain of mimosas, one of the flower’s petals retracts at her touch, and the entire chain of buds immediately follows suit.
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
Cam arrives to pick up Allie from the church and is both surprised and relieved to see Mia there. He drives them both back to the flower shop, and when Allie gets out to unload the flower supplies, he kisses Mia. However, Mia leaves, saying that Cam can’t see her again. Despite repeated calls and notes, Mia refuses to see Cam until he finally catches her at the store when Allie is heading out to Graham’s office. Cam coaxes Mia to take a walk with him, and they talk.
Graham appears before the judge in response to Audra’s pre-trial motion that the terms “mercy” and “mercy killing” not be used by him or his witnesses during the trial. Despite Graham’s protests, the judge passes the motion. On the way home, Graham drives past the graveyard and sees Jamie at Maggie’s spot, talking to her and caressing her gravestone.
Graham receives a letter from a man whose brother fractured his back and had to have his leg amputated after an accident. He was in pain for a long time and finally shot himself in the head; however, he survived the first shot and, when his brother found him still alive and waiting in pain, fired the second shot without a thought. He went through the same legal process as Jamie but was acquitted six months later, as a jury determined that the first shot would have killed his brother anyway. The writer expresses sympathy for Jamie and hopes “the jury has heart” (222).
Angus, Ellen, and Jamie gather at Allie’s for Thanksgiving, with Cam working as usual. Allie gives Jamie the wishbone, and together they wish for the people they love to return to them. While patrolling, Cam gets called in about a robbery at a minimart in town. He manages to shoot at and disarm the armed robbers but is shaken from the experience. Not wanting to meet any of the people gathered at his house, he heads to see Mia at the inn; she takes him in, seeing how rattled he is. Cam tells Mia what happened, and they sleep together. Hours later, Cam finally heads back home.
Part 2, Chapters 9-12 Analysis
Power Dynamics in Romantic Relationships continue to be the foremost theme in these chapters, explored through the different equations that exist in the book. Allie learns from Pauline that she knew Maggie was going to ask Jamie to kill her; Pauline is unsurprised that Jamie went through with it, stating that he loved her so much that he would have done anything for her. Pauline also reiterates the unequal balance of love between Jamie and Maggie, revealing that Maggie admitted she couldn’t have done what Jamie did. In fact, Maggie was even jealous of the more equal dynamic between Pauline and her husband. The unequal dynamic that existed between Jamie and Maggie is a reality for Cam and Allie as well, allowing the couples to serve as mirrors for each other through which to process the individual relationships. While Jamie is left grieving for his wife and facing criminal charges for his mercy killing, Allie is in a marriage that she knows is lopsided. Indeed, her empathy toward Jamie stems from her likeness to him; she is able to humanize him because she would have made the same choice. Although Cam reiterates that he could never do what Jamie did, and Allie notes that they are unlike Jamie and Maggie, the reality is slightly different—Allie is the one who loves and needs Cam more. He rejects her advances in bed, torn up about Mia leaving town, and later takes out his frustration over Mia on Allie. Allie’s response is always to try and make up things with Cam and pacify him rather than stand up for herself, which highlights the dangers of unequal power dynamics in romantic relationships: One party is all-sacrificing. However, Maggie was aware that what she was asking Jamie to do for her was, in a sense, horrible, but Cam is casually cold and cruel to Allie even when he knows that he is at fault. This suggests that, despite not loving each other equally, Maggie and Jamie were closer to understanding each other, perhaps because of her nearness to death. Indeed, when Cam truly thought that he lost Allie when their boat capsized, he demonstrated his need for her for the first time, which implies that if a serious situation were to arise and separate them, Cam might realize how important Allie is to him. Moreover, Jamie and Allie are so similar that Jamie makes a wish for both of them, willing the ones they love back to them.
Cam, on the other hand, is looking for a different lover to return—Mia, whom he tracks down and is able to convince to not only return but also eventually reignite their affair. However, it is clear that Cam also feels some guilt about his relationship with Mia. He reflects on his relationship with Allie, thinking about the first time they slept together even as he continues his affair with Mia, and his guilt drives him to buy Allie a gift. The stained-glass panel appears, and thus it is revealed that the couple in the Prologue is Cam and Allie. However, the panel is not a gift born out of love but rather guilt because Cam knows he is failing his Familial Duty to Allie as her husband. Moreover, the blue background is the exact color of Mia’s eyes, highlighting the fact that even when he tries to think of Allie, his mind is always with Mia. Further, it is significant that Cam doesn’t even get a chance to present Allie with the panel, distracted as he is by Mia leaving town; Allie chances upon it and is thrilled, assuming it is for her.
Notably, recollections of Maggie’s awareness of Jamie’s greater love for her not only parallel Cam and Allie’s relationship but also demonstrate that relationships are not always equal. Mia’s parents, for example, loved each other so much that they often overlooked their daughter, suggesting that two equally passionate partners might not be ideal. Further, Mia and Cam’s relationship is passionate, and they believe that they are ill-fated but true lovers who somehow missed each other years before in Italy. However, the collateral damage of this passionate affair is Allie, who is an honest and loyal woman. These passionate relationships affect others who are caught in the crossfire, suggesting that balance is needed.
Even as the entanglements in different characters’ personal lives continue, Jamie’s case also moves forward. Jamie is indicted by a grand jury, and preparations begin on both sides. Graham decides to go with an insanity plea and once again reflects on the complications of using a euthanasia defense. He knows that if he wins, he will be setting a legal precedent, which comes with its own set of complications. The complexities of being able to legally demarcate an instance as euthanasia as opposed to murder or manslaughter underline how mercy is such a specific, subjective term. The broader scope of justice does not always leave space for mercy, with its emphasis on equality as the way to fairness. Significantly, Audra wins a pre-trial motion that the term “mercy” not be used in the courtroom for the duration of the trial, highlighting the theme of Mercy and the Law and their somewhat contradictory natures. Graham, in turn, receives a letter from a man who was in a similar position as Jamie and hopes that the jury has “heart,” indicating what Jamie needs is not justice as per the letter of the law, but “mercy.” This letter is significant because it further humanizes Jamie and demonstrates the actions that people will take for the ones they love.
Recurring ideas or motifs in these chapters include the anonymous letters and a disconnect with reality. With respect to the former, the writer remembers a photograph they have of the addressee and can recall every detail of their long-lost lover. Significantly, they note how they would willingly “kill” to hold the addressee again; it can be said that Jamie killed for love, however untraditionally this occurred. Indeed, Jamie remembers coming across Maggie using his virtual reality system to experience what her body, pre-cancer, looked and felt like; Jamie breaks the spell when he touches her and reminds her that the “real” world is waiting for her outside the virtual world. The motifs of flowers reoccur, taking on a more active role as they not only are used to express emotion but also react themselves. The appearance of the stained-glass panel is also significant in that it represents Cam’s guilt, Mia’s eyes, and the fragility of love and marriage, as glass breaks when it is not carefully looked after.
Related Titles
By Jodi Picoult
