Chapter 22: A Study in Loss and Obsession
Spoiler Notice
This summary reveals key plot points from Chapter 22 of All the Colors of the Dark. Proceed only if you have read this chapter or do not mind spoilers.
Summary
As cooling rain pounds the windows, Saint sits at the old piano playing a mournful Chopin piece while her grandmother rocks nearby. She is wasting away—not eating, barely sleeping, and speaking at school only to note the empty seat at the back. The loss of Joseph Macauley has drowned her. Weeks earlier, convinced she heard a scream, she bolted home and Norma called Chief Nix. They drove to the Tooms farm; the doctor emerged, spoke calmly with Nix, and offered a sad smile toward the car. Nix apologized. Since then Saint has spent hours in the woodland behind her house, watching the Tooms land through Patch’s spy telescope. Norma rationalizes the cry as mating wolves, but Saint notes a shadowed vehicle beneath the trees and wonders about house calls.
After Saint delivers handwritten letters to Parade Hill, the reward for Patch rises to two thousand dollars, yet the case slips from headlines to murmurs as other crimes capture attention: a bar‑fight murder in Cedar Rapids, a drunk driver killing an expectant mother in Mount Vernon, and the torching of a Planned Parenthood clinic. Saint reads about TRAP laws, tries to discuss women’s bodily autonomy with Norma, but is met with religious objection. Saint insists she would have wanted to stand with Misty and the others at the clinic protest, but Norma would not let her.
Autumn bleeds in, and Saint takes long, ground‑scanning walks, missing curfew and walking close to the highway as if daring the man who took Patch to take her too. Nix finds her each time, and Norma moves from anger to fear, urging a counselor. Saint cannot manage more than a mouthful of stew, loses more weight, and ceases to care about her appearance. Evenings bring bonfire smoke; Patch’s name is whispered in the cold. At church, Ivy Macauley’s hands tremble and vodka overpowers her perfume. On television, Reagan announces his presidential run, promising sweeping change. Saint watches, but the next morning, amid defiant Ford flags in frosted yards, she can think of nothing good at all.
Key Events
- Saint plays the piano, visibly gaunt, as Grandmother looks on.
- A flashback recounts the night Saint heard a cry near the Tooms farm: Chief Nix responds, interviews Dr. Tooms, finds nothing, and apologizes.
- Saint obsessively watches the Tooms property through Patch’s spy telescope and notices a shadowed vehicle.
- Reward money grows to two thousand dollars after Saint hand‑delivers letters.
- The search for Patch fades from headlines; other local tragedies and the Planned Parenthood arson occupy the news.
- Saint’s argument with Norma about abortion and women’s rights highlights generational and religious tension.
- Saint engages in risky behavior, walking the highway at night, hoping to be taken.
- Ivy Macauley’s decline becomes visible at church—trembling hands, alcohol replacing perfume.
- Reagan’s presidential run is announced; Saint feels no hope.
Character Development
Saint deteriorates physically and mentally. She barely eats, grows thinner, and dissociates at school, her world narrowing to the search for Patch. The telescope becomes a fixation, a way to cling to the belief that Dr. Tooms hides something. Her self‑destructive walks signal that she would sacrifice herself to find Patch. She also shows a burgeoning political consciousness, challenging Norma’s stance on abortion, yet feels powerless when denied the chance to act publicly.
Norma remains a steady but increasingly desperate guardian. She tries to comfort Saint with rational explanations, then suggests counseling—a significant concession from someone who earlier dismissed such help. Her moral absolutism on abortion (It’s a sin) contrasts with Saint’s emerging independence.
Chief Nix still responds to Saint’s fears, though the apology to Tooms suggests his investigation has reached a dead end. Ivy Macauley is crumbling under grief, her public mask slipping as alcohol takes hold. Dr. Tooms remains an ambiguous presence—the smile toward the car could be sympathetic or unsettling, and the shadowed vehicle keeps suspicion alive.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Suffocation and Stasis The Chopin piece played as rain beats the windows mirrors Saint’s drowning grief. Her refusal to eat and inability to sleep show a life suspended.
- The Telescope A literal and symbolic tool of obsessive watching. Saint lies in the woodland, straining to uncover a truth that remains hidden, just as the case itself has stalled.
- Autumn and Decay The fading greens, bonfire smoke, and frost correspond to the dying hope and the public’s waning attention. Patch’s name is now spoken
under people’s breath that now smoked with cold. - Absence and Empty Space The empty seat at school, the empty reward fund before the increase—absence defines every scene.
- The Highway as Bait Saint’s deliberate proximity to danger reenacts a desperate wish to trade places with Patch, embodying her loss of self‑preservation.
- Political Context The abortion debate and Reagan’s entry into the race illustrate a world moving forward while Saint remains trapped. The clinic arson and TRAP laws externalize the theme of bodies controlled by others, paralleling Saint’s own lack of control over her body and fate.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 22 marks a critical emotional nadir for Saint. It shows the toll of prolonged uncertainty and reveals her willingness to risk her life to find Patch. The chapter also broadens the novel’s historical canvas, weaving in the early‑1980s political climate, which deepens the sense of a society that offers little solace. Saint’s argument with Norma over abortion is more than a generational clash; it signals her growing awareness that the world’s unfairness extends beyond her personal tragedy. By ending with Reagan’s hollow promise of change and Saint’s empty feeling, the chapter underscores that hope, for her, has receded as far as summer has.
Study Questions and Answers
-
How does Saint’s behavior in this chapter illustrate her obsessive grief? Saint fasts, stops caring for her appearance, and retreats into silence at school. She spends hours spying on the Tooms farm through Patch’s telescope, ignoring rational explanations, and walks along the highway at night hoping to become a target—all signs of a grief that has turned self‑destructive and fixated on a single, elusive truth.
-
What does Saint’s argument with Norma about abortion reveal about both characters and the chapter’s themes? The argument exposes a generational and moral rift. Saint believes women should have full control of their bodies, while Norma invokes religion and the sinfulness of abortion. It highlights Saint’s budding activism and her sense of injustice, but also her powerlessness—Norma forbids her from acting publicly. This mirrors Saint’s larger powerlessness in finding Patch and the novel’s theme of bodies (and lives) determined by others.
-
Why is the detail of Saint watching the Tooms land through the telescope significant to the overall mystery? The telescope represents Saint’s refusal to accept the official narrative. Even after Nix apologizes to Tooms and the case fades, Saint keeps watching, noticing a shadowed vehicle that might confirm her suspicion that the doctor is hiding something. This small, ambiguous detail maintains the thread of doubt around Tooms and keeps the possibility of foul play alive for the reader, even as the world moves on.