Summary
The next morning, Hagar wakes up in the cannery and Murray is gone. Hagar feels faint and cannot exactly remember the conversation from the night. She feels bereaved, as if she had lost someone recently. Suddenly, the door opens and in walks Marvin and Doris, who have been led there by Murray. Doris fusses over Hagar, but all Hagar can do is remain quiet. In her heart, she does feel somewhat grateful to see Marvin. Hagar acts snippily towards Murray, and Doris reminds her that he has saved her life. She apologizes to him and apologizes about the loss of his son, and he responds in kind. Marvin and Doris take her in the car and tell her that she is going to be placed in the hospital. Marvin also reveals that the X-rays found a serious disease—one which Hagar, as our narrator, does not name.
Hagar is placed in the public ward of the hospital because there is no room anywhere else. A nurse forces her to swallow two pills. Around her, the other women in the room groan, pray, sing, and make other types of noises. She wakes up and some of the other patients tell her that she has been talking and stirring all night, which Hagar can hardly believe to be true. She speaks to one particularly small and shriveled old woman named Elva Jardine. Elva has no children and no financial means to stay anywhere but the public ward.
Marvin comes to visit Hagar and Hagar complains about the ward, asking him to move her. Doris is not well and Marvin is worried about her; as he leaves, he promises to ask about the private room. Elva is visited by her husband Tom, and she tells him that she is doing well and will be home soon. Later, the nurse tells Hagar that Elva is actually not healthy and is not going home anytime soon, if at all. Hagar tries to go to the bathroom on her own, but the nurse insists she is not well enough to do so.
Hagar and Elva have a conversation, discussing their lives and their husbands. Hagar is surprised by Elva’s kindness and expresses this to her. In the middle of the night, Hagar wakes up in pain and calls for the nurse. The nurses cannot give her the pain pill that she desires and Hagar can’t help but lash out at the nurses in frustration. Later, the pain subsides; she calls back the nurse and apologizes. The next morning, she is visited by the doctor; at first, Hagar tries to lie about her condition. Then, she realizes the absurdity of this, and she tells him honestly about her pains.
Doris and Marvin visit Hagar, bringing her roses and her nightgown. They inform her that her granddaughter, Tina, is going to get married. Doris is worried that she is perhaps not marrying the right person, but Hagar is happy to hear the news. She takes her sapphire ring and asks Doris to give it to Tina. Marvin announces to Hagar that he has been able to secure a semi-private room for her; Hagar is annoyed and sad to hear this, having become accustomed to her company with the women in the public ward. Marvin is frustrated that she changes her mind so many times.
Hagar moves to the private room and makes a morbid remark to the nurse about how her next room will be even smaller, referring to the "room" where she will be buried. She chats amicably with a young nurse and blurts out that she is lucky to be so young and healthy. Hagar notices something troubled in the nurse’s eyes and can’t imagine what she has to be sad about, but then she instantly realizes that there are “plagues” in every generation.
Hagar is sleeping and temporarily forgets where she is, waiting to hear Bram’s voice. Instead, she hears the nurse calling her name. Hagar has been sleepwalking, and now the nurse puts a restrictive bed jacket on her so that she does not fall again. Hagar is appalled, finding the measure to be cruel and oppressive. She falls asleep anyway and wakes up to find a 16-year-old girl named Sandra Wong in the bed next to her. The girl is nervous, there to get her appendix removed, and Hagar tries to assure her that it is not a painful procedure. Hagar can’t believe how much concern the girl has about something that is so minor compared to Hagar’s predicament.
Doris visits Hagar, bringing Mr. Troy to speak with her. Mr. Troy does not know what to say and asks if Hagar wants to pray. Hagar instead suggests he sing a hymn about coming before God and rejoicing. The hymn moves Hagar greatly, making her realize that she has spent a lifetime in pride motivated by fear instead of listening to her heart. She is moved to tears and tries to explain this to Doris, who does not understand. Then her grandson Steven visits and they speak. She senses the distance between them and his inability to tell her what is really happening in his life. She wishes she could tell him that she would love him no matter what he did in life.
Hagar’s roommate is done with her operation and is in pain. Sandra is mad at Hagar for telling her that it would not hurt very much. Hagar tells her that she would be lucky if that were all the pain she experienced in life, which offends the girl. Later at night when Sandra desperately needs a bedpan and the nurses won’t come, Hagar gets up from her bed to get her one, hating to hear the girl suffering. The nurse discovers Hagar out of her bed and is shocked. Her shock brings Sandra and Hagar much laughter. As Sandra recovers from her operation, she helps Hagar with small things.
Hagar speaks with Marvin and she tells him that he’s been a good son; he, in turn, apologizes for being cranky to her. Later, she hears him call her a “holy terror” to the nurse with a mixture of anger and tenderness. Hagar thinks about the sole two moments in life when she has felt free. She also recalls when John was born and he gasped for air, not yet accustomed to breathing. She is in pain and calls for the nurse. She demands water and takes the glass, feeling reassured. The book ends with “And then—“, leaving the reader to imagine what is next for Hagar.
Analysis
In the final two chapters of the novel, we see a true change in Hagar as she approaches the end of her life. After being informed she has an illness, she is placed in the hospital where she has no choice but to begin squarely facing her own mortality. When first placed in the public ward, Hagar is annoyed to lack privacy in such a vulnerable state. She can only think of her own bodily discomfort. However, this setting is where she begins to vanquish her pride and relate to others in a more genuine way than she ever has in her entire life. Finally, she starts to realize that she has nothing left to hide.
Hagar begins to acknowledge the stupidity of her pride, such as when she almost slips back into her habit and tries to hide her pain from the doctor. This is also at play in her relationship with Elva, whom she initially judges and looks down upon. However, when Hagar recognizes Elva’s true kindness, she can’t help but open up to this woman. Through pain and running out of all other options in life, Hagar has come to realize that pride has gotten her nowhere in life and brought her only more isolation and fear.
This truth is highlighted when the reverend sings a hymn about the rejoicing for God. Like nothing else in her life, this song moves Hagar to tears, finally feeling something after a lifetime of suppressed emotions. Through the hymn, Hagar sees that she has never allowed herself to rejoice, instead keeping herself bound to pride motivated by fear. She realizes that she has let fear control her life. Yet at this moment, Hagar is not filled with regret for a wasted potential; rather, she simply is grateful to feel anything at all. She even softens up to Doris after this, trying to explain how Mr. Troy’s singing was much more powerful than any type of forced conversation.
When Hagar is placed in a private room with the young Sandra, she humbles herself even more. Whereas once Hagar might have simply judged Sandra and her haughtiness, Hagar finds compassion for the suffering girl. This is demonstrated when Hagar risks herself to get up at night and fetch Sandra a bedpan. She also lies to Sandra about the pain of getting her appendix removed as a way to comfort her, feeling it is unbearable to see such a young person be in so much pain. Through their mutual pain, the two are able to form an authentic connection.
The distance that age creates is also emphasized in these pages. It is almost as if only by experiencing pain can the young and healthy start to empathize with those nearing the end of life. When Hagar’s grandson Steven comes to visit her, Hagar is saddened by what she perceives to be his unwillingness to talk openly about himself. She also realizes that he knows very little about her life either, thinking of her merely as his incapacitated grandmother. Hagar, throughout the book, has emphasized how few people have truly known her—how few have ever called her by her first name, always instead placing her in a role of mother, daughter, or wife. We see here how by putting people in these roles, their deeper stories remain unknown and we fail to realize the universality of the human experience.
The book ends with an unfinished sentence, which can be inferred to be a lapse in Hagar’s consciousness that indicates her passing from this life. Her final act before she dies is drinking a glass of water. The water, which has featured as a symbol throughout the story, speaks to the rejuvenation and healing to which Hagar is now opening herself. Her lifelong suffering has kept her in a stagnant state of mind, like a swamp, where all she knows is pride and fear. After being so humbled by the process of death, Hagar is willing to be reborn and taken by God in whatever way He wants.
