Chapter 19: Chapter I – Summary and Analysis
Spoiler Notice: This page details the events of Chapter 19 of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. It assumes you have read through this chapter. Proceed only if you want a complete breakdown.
Summary
Alice steps out into the Yard, relieved by the cool night air after leaving a stifling indoor space. The heaviness she felt earlier lifts as she walks across the lamp-lit quad under an indigo sky, enjoying the breeze. Then her stomach cramps sharply, reminding her she has not eaten since the previous night's party. She heads to Berg, the dining hall, hoping to find something she can stomach.
While waiting in line, she observes a group of boys leaving and recalls her friend Catty from Hoxburn, who would bare her teeth at such packs of men as a deliberate act of defiance. Alice fills a bowl with oatmeal, honey, and dried fruit, suddenly ravenous. She takes one bite and it tastes wonderful—until she swallows. Her body immediately rejects the food. She bolts outside and vomits violently into a bush, left shaking and doubled over on the curb.
As she crouches there, trying to catalog her symptoms, a male student jogs up. He knows her name—Colin—but she struggles to place him. He offers an unopened water bottle. Her throat is parched, yet when she tries to drink, her throat seizes shut and she has to spit the water out. Colin helps the unsteady Alice to her feet and says he will get her home.
Key Events
- Alice leaves the building and feels momentary relief in the fresh night air.
- A sudden, painful stomach cramp reminds her she has not eaten since before the party.
- She goes to the Berg dining hall and ladles oatmeal with honey and dried fruit.
- A memory surfaces of her friend Catty, who would flash a "feral grin" at groups of men to show them her teeth.
- Alice takes one bite of oatmeal and immediately vomits, her body violently rejecting the food.
- While she crouches on the curb, a student named Colin approaches, recognizes her, and offers water.
- Alice cannot swallow the water; her throat closes and she spits it out.
- Colin steadies her and insists on walking her home.
Character Development
Alice: This chapter deepens the portrait of Alice's physical unraveling. She cycles from relief to ravenous hunger to violent sickness in a matter of minutes. Her body is waging a war against itself—stomach rumbling with hunger even as it expels everything she tries to ingest. She tries to rationalize the symptoms as a hangover or a stomach flu, but the narrative makes clear this is something stranger and more ominous. Her inability to swallow water sharpens the sense that a supernatural affliction is taking hold.
The flashback to Catty also reveals a layer of Alice's past. She grew up around male groups she instinctively clocked as predatory, and she learned from Catty a posture of defiant refusal—showing teeth rather than shrinking away. This memory surfaces unbidden while Alice waits in line at Berg, suggesting the social dynamics of this new environment are activating old survival instincts.
Colin: Introduced here as a minor but notable presence. He has a "familiar face," floppy brown hair, a crimson jumper, and a moneyed accent that marks him as not from Boston. He seems to know Alice, though she cannot place him. His small kindness—offering an unopened water bottle—contrasts with Alice's isolation and physical distress. He appears concerned rather than threatening, though the chapter leaves his role ambiguous.
Catty (in memory): Alice's friend from Hoxburn, who taught her a specific form of resistance: meeting male aggression with a feral snarl. Catty's philosophy of showing teeth reframes fear as confrontation.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Bodily Rejection: Alice's body systematically refuses sustenance. Food, then water—the most basic elements of survival—are expelled. This motif suggests an internal corruption or transformation that food and water cannot remedy, pointing toward the novel's supernatural underpinnings. The body is not merely sick; it is actively hostile to normal human needs.
Thirst and Hunger: Alice is starving and parched, yet cannot satisfy either need. The physical craving intensifies even as her body rejects what would satisfy it. This paradox creates a mounting sense of dread—the hunger is real, but ordinary nourishment is useless.
Showing Teeth: Catty's lesson is a thematic anchor. Where Alice is currently passive—collapsing, being helped, being led—the memory of Catty offers a counter-model of aggression. The phrase "showing them my teeth" reframes vulnerability as potential danger, a posture Alice may need to reclaim as her situation worsens.
The Night Air: The chapter opens with fresh air feeling "mercifully good," and Alice's body "coming unstuck a little, stride by stride." This fleeting relief before the violent sickness mirrors the false hope that punctuates her decline—moments of normalcy that make the next collapse more jarring.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 19 escalates the mystery of Alice's condition. The previous chapters established her dislocation and unease; here, the physical symptoms become undeniable and alarming. She cannot eat or drink, and her attempts to rationalize the problem (hangover, flu) fail. The chapter also plants the memory of Catty, a figure from Alice's past whose philosophy of defiance may prove essential as the story darkens. Colin's introduction adds a new interpersonal thread—someone who knows Alice and wants to help, though whether he can be trusted remains an open question. Structurally, this chapter is a turning point: Alice can no longer pretend she is simply adjusting poorly to college life. Something is profoundly wrong with her body.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Alice's body reject both food and water in this chapter? The rejection goes beyond ordinary illness. A hangover or stomach flu might cause vomiting, but the immediate, violent expulsion of a single bite of oatmeal and the throat snapping shut against water suggest a supernatural cause. Alice senses this herself, noting "deep down, this isn't that." The chapter frames her condition as a war her body is waging against itself, hinting at a transformation or curse that makes normal human sustenance intolerable.
2. What is the significance of the Catty flashback? The memory serves multiple purposes. It establishes Alice's working-class Hoxburn roots and the street wisdom she grew up with—reading male groups as potential threats. More importantly, it introduces the concept of "showing teeth" as a survival tactic. Catty's feral defiance contrasts with Alice's current passivity and may foreshadow a moment when Alice must reclaim that energy to confront whatever is happening to her.
3. How does Colin's introduction affect the chapter's tone? Colin's arrival shifts the mood from isolated suffering to cautious social interaction. His kindness—offering water, steadying her, insisting on walking her home—provides a momentary reprieve from Alice's solitary decline. However, the fact that he knows her while she barely recognizes him underscores Alice's disorientation. His presence raises questions about what he knows and why he was there, injecting a note of uncertainty into an otherwise straightforward act of assistance.