Chapter 33 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.

⚠️ This page contains major plot developments, including the birth of Isobel's child, her departure from Salem, and the revelation of the real-life inspiration behind Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel. If you have not read this far, proceed with caution.

Summary

Through the winter, Isobel remains in the sugar house, sewing silk dresses and singing to her unborn child. She refines her personal color system, assigning meanings to each hue: red for passion and knowledge but also warning, blue for hope, yellow for truth (except when part of fire), orange for joy, and green for goodness and home. She reflects on the women who have supported her—Mercy, Widow Higgins, and others—and concludes that women are more beautiful and strong together than apart.

Mercy and Widow Higgins deliver her baby when the time comes. The birth is easy, and the child is born with raven hair and star-colored eyes, her cries carrying the colors of hope, truth, and home. Isobel names her Margaret, after her mother. Having spent five months in the sugar house, she has made enough dresses, gloves, and petticoats to start a shop of her own.

On an early spring day, Captain Darling arrives while Isobel wears a new yellow dress. He proposes marriage, but Isobel declines, explaining that she has a husband who still lives. Darling reveals that Edward's eye pussed out and took his sight; he is now blind and mentally broken, housed in an almshouse in Boston. He admits he should have taken Edward to Liverpool and left him there, and Isobel acknowledges she should have warned him about Edward's poppy addiction. Darling's eyes remain warm and affectionate, and Isobel thinks that if her heart had not been broken, she might have turned to him.

Isobel waits on a rock for the blue rig to come for her, knowing the cove and the water well. Margaret is wrapped in a traveling blanket. Mercy, dressed in forest greens and browns, comes to say goodbye. Isobel asks if Mercy will join them, but Mercy declines, saying she has work to do helping refugees and children running to freedom. They embrace, and Isobel asks Mercy to look in on Ivy when she reaches her destination. The tears she sheds are full of gratitude and joy, feeling like prayer rather than weeping.

The captain steers toward the wharf where the New Harmony waits. Mercy has told Isobel that Darling has already brought ten runaway slaves to safety. Darling says they are going to a place where she and her little Pearl of the Sea will always have a home. Isobel feels something she has not felt since saying goodbye to her father: safe with a man and full of hope.

As the ship sets sail, Isobel stands at the stern to take a last look at Salem. She sees the wharves, the boats, the rooftops, and among the crowd, a tall man in a too-long black cloak—Nat. She turns Margaret around so that her father can see what he has lost. When she holds the baby high over her head like a banner, Nat reaches toward them, his mouth opening, but she cannot hear him. She bites the inside of her cheek and tastes blood, remembering the nights, the stories, the pleasure and sorrow. She admits she loved him with a pain that cuts deep.

In the cabin, there is a drawer lined with blankets for Margaret and a chest of blue silk cloth. Isobel has requested canvas and wool threads. Her tambour hook and needle were lost when Edward beat her, but she has pliers and sharpened scissors. She threads a needle with red yarn and bends to the cloth as the ship heads north, Canada bound.

The scene shifts to Salem, 1849. Nathaniel is finishing the final chapter of his novel, his hands blue with ink, his back strained from months hunched at the desk. He prepares warm chocolate and bread while Sophia puts the children to bed. He reads aloud to her, as has been their custom since their courtship. He reads about Hester Prynne and Minister Dimmesdale, ending with the graveyard reunion and the embroidered lettering on their tombstones. When he looks up, Sophia is blanched and wide-eyed, tears streaming down her face. She whispers that it is a love story, that he is the reverend, but asks who the woman is—for she is not Sophia.

Sophia lies in bed for three days with a migraine. When she rouses, she goes up to his attic, finds the notebooks, but cannot bear to read them. She looks out the window at Nat coming home with the children, and in one motion runs down the stairs and throws his journals into the fire.

Key Events

Isobel gives birth to Margaret, delivered by Mercy and Widow Higgins.
Captain Darling proposes marriage; Isobel declines, citing her living husband.
Darling reveals Edward is blind and mentally broken in a Boston almshouse.
Isobel departs with Darling aboard the New Harmony, leaving Salem behind.
Mercy stays behind to help refugees.
Isobel sees Nat on the wharf and holds Margaret up to him.
Nathaniel finishes his novel and reads it to Sophia.
Sophia asks who the woman in the story is.
Sophia burns Nathaniel's journals.

Character Development

Isobel: Has grown into a self-reliant woman who trusts her own eye and hand. She refuses to weep at the sight of Nat, showing emotional strength. She has learned to trust a man again with Darling, feeling safe for the first time since her father.
Mercy: Shows her commitment to her work, staying behind to help refugees despite the opportunity to leave. Her choice underscores her dedication to others.
Captain Darling: Reveals his depth of feeling for Isobel, proposing marriage and offering her a home. His anger at Edward shows his protective nature, and his honesty about Edward's condition demonstrates his integrity.
Nathaniel: Completes his novel, which has come out of him in a torrent of memory and zeal. His physical strain reflects the intensity of his creative process.
Sophia: Realizes the woman in the story is not her, and destroys the journals, showing her pain and the destruction of truth.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Color symbolism: Isobel's color system is fully articulated—red for passion and warning, blue for hope, yellow for truth, green for home. The colors of Margaret's cries (yellow, blue, soft green) represent hope, truth, and home.
Pearl as symbol of hope: Margaret means