Chapter Twenty-Three: Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens in early evening at Isobel's cottage, a month after she first took Nat into her bed. Nell arrives to collect Charlotte's trousseau and immediately notices how thin and flushed Isobel looks. Isobel lays out the white-on-white pieces—petticoats, nightdresses, camisoles, tiny gowns for the baby, and a baptism gown embroidered with flowers. Nell praises the work as flawless and pays with two gold pieces, more than half a year's wages at Felicity's shop. She advises Isobel to hide the money well, recalling that her own mother buried silver in a tin beneath her pumpkins.

Nell then reveals she and Stephen are eloping to Boston the next day because Stephen's mother opposes the marriage—Nell is Catholic. She plans to tell Mrs. Silas only after the wedding. Before leaving with Zeke, who seems less friendly than before, Nell expresses sympathy for Isobel's situation. Isobel wants to confess her love for Nat and her fear that her bleeding is almost two weeks late, but she only whispers good luck.

Two days pass with no word from Nat. Isobel wonders if he has gone to Maine with his uncle. She works on gloves for Philadelphia ladies but feels no joy in the stitching. Her bleeding still has not come.

On July Fourth, Isobel roams the Common during the Independence Day celebration, searching for Nat. She overhears slave catchers and magistrates discussing the return of fugitive slaves to the South, calling it a duty and mentioning rewards. She notes how ordinary evil can look. She walks along the waterfront, past the almshouse where children play with a rusted barrel hoop, and along the lake, mistaking several men for Nat. When she returns home, Mercy is at the well and comments on the irony of Freedom Day—freedom for whom?

The next morning, Isobel checks the Mannings' stagecoach office but Nat isn't there. She walks by their gray boulder twice but doesn't dare wait long, shivering despite the July heat.

On Tuesday, Isobel delivers a dozen pairs of gloves to Felicity, who examines each pair and seems almost angry at how marvelous they are. The gloves carry Isobel's flesh, tiny blood spots from needle pricks, and the colors Nat left on her. As a storm gathers, she sees Nat emerge from a newspaper office. His face is dark gray, as if veiled, and he clutches papers. He walks east without looking up, moving as if through cold water.

Isobel follows him past the graveyard. She watches him kick at a tombstone and rip his papers to shreds. His jacket is off, revealing faint streaks of blood at his shoulder. For the first time, she sees the color of her own words, and in them she recognizes the story he told her: the girl in the garden, the poisoned plants, the mother who dies in childbirth. She understands she is the deathly girl in his stories.

The chapter flashes back to Salem in 1808. Elizabeth Manning Hathorne watches her husband prepare for a long sea journey. The city's sea captains have grown rich from cod and sugar trade, and Elizabeth covets their wives' silks. When word comes that her husband has died of yellow fever at sea, Elizabeth looks at her four-year-old son—who sleeps with his father's cap on his pillow—and tells him to be brave. His father had a great name, and now it is his alone to carry. But Elizabeth is not brave. She puts on widow's weeds, moves back to her father's house, and lets little Nat run along the docks chasing ghosts and shadows until he, too, imagines himself a poet.

Key Events

Nell pays for Charlotte's trousseau with two gold pieces and advises Isobel to hide the money
Nell reveals she and Stephen are eloping to Boston because his mother objects to her Catholicism
Isobel's bleeding is nearly two weeks late, suggesting pregnancy
On July Fourth, Isobel overhears slave catchers discussing returning fugitive slaves
Mercy points out the irony of Freedom Day
Isobel delivers gloves to Felicity, who is impressed despite seeming angry
Isobel follows Nat to a graveyard, where he kicks a tombstone and tears papers, blood on his shoulder
Isobel realizes she is the deathly girl in Nat's stories
Flashback: Elizabeth Hathorne's husband dies at sea; she tells young Nat to be brave

Character Development

Isobel is increasingly desperate and isolated. Her pregnancy (implied by the late bleeding) heightens her vulnerability. She moves from passive waiting to active searching, and finally to a devastating realization about Nat's nature. Her synesthesia—seeing the colors of words—now extends to her own words, marking a shift in self-awareness.

Nat is revealed as suffering and volatile. His absence, the blood on his shoulder, and his violent act of kicking a tombstone suggest inner turmoil and possibly self-destructive tendencies. The flashback to his childhood explains his haunted nature: his father died when he was four, and his mother told him to carry a great name alone.

Nell takes control of her life by choosing to elope, defying religious prejudice. Her warmth toward Isobel contrasts with the growing distance between Isobel and Nat.

Elizabeth Hathorne appears as a woman who wanted to be a poet but settled for widowhood and dependence on her father. Her instruction to young Nat to be brave and carry his father's name shapes the man Isobel now loves.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Freedom Day irony: The July Fourth celebration contrasts sharply with the slave catchers' conversation and Mercy's pointed question about whose freedom is being celebrated. The holiday's joy is undercut by the reality of fugitive slaves being hunted.

The deathly girl prophecy: Nat's stories about a girl who dies of love or in childbirth now seem to point at Isobel. The poisoned plants, the mother who dies in childbirth—these are the threads of his imagination that she now recognizes as her own fate.

Legacy of a name: Elizabeth tells young Nat that his father's great name is now his alone to carry. This burden of legacy connects to the Hathorne family history and explains Nat's obsession with his family's reputation.

Craft as memory: The gloves Isobel makes carry her flesh, her blood, and the colors Nat left on her. Her embroidery is not just work but a record of her experience.

Hidden money: Nell's advice to bury the gold in a tin echoes her mother's practice and underscores the precariousness of women's financial independence.

Synesthesia: Isobel's perception of words as colors continues to develop, now including her own words, marking a deepening of her self-awareness.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point. Isobel's realization that she is the deathly girl in Nat's stories transforms her understanding of their relationship. The flashback to Salem in 1808 provides crucial backstory for Nat's character, explaining his haunted nature and the weight of his family name. The chapter also deepens the novel's engagement with historical context—the slave trade, religious prejudice, and the precarious position of women—while advancing the pregnancy plot that will shape the rest of the story.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Isobel follow Nat to the graveyard instead of approaching him?

Isobel is desperate to see Nat but also afraid. When she finally sees him, his face is dark gray and he moves as if through cold water. She wants to run to him, but she also wants to hide. His violent act—kicking a tombstone and tearing papers—reveals a side of him she hasn't fully acknowledged. Following him allows her to observe without confronting, and what she observes confirms her worst fears about being the deathly girl in his stories.

2. What does the flashback to Salem in 1808 reveal about Nat's character?

The flashback shows that Nat's father died at sea when Nat was four years old. His mother told him to be brave and to carry his father's great name alone. This burden of legacy, combined with his mother's own inability to be brave (she moves back to her father's house and lets Nat run along the docks), shapes Nat's haunted, poetic nature. The chapter suggests that Nat's darkness is inherited—not just from his family name but from the emotional weight placed on him as a child.

3. How does the July Fourth scene comment on American freedom?

The Independence Day celebration is full of joy—parades, food, fireworks—but Isobel overhears slave catchers discussing the return of fugitive slaves to the South. Mercy's question about Freedom Day crystallizes the irony. The holiday celebrates a freedom that doesn't extend to enslaved people, and the presence of slave catchers in Boston shows that even northern cities are complicit in the system. The scene also contrasts Isobel's own precarious freedom as a woman with the celebration of national liberty.