Isola, Chapter 37: The Pilgrim’s Return

⚠️ 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

Marguerite spends the night hiding in a church sanctuary, sleeping on the stone floor among other refugees. Kicked out at dawn, she prays at the tomb of a stone knight and his lady, thinking of her lost husband Auguste, Damienne, and her child. Counting her remaining money—three gold, eight silver, thirteen copper—she buys supplies and directions to Périgord. Traveling alone on foot proves dangerous: horsemen harass her, and she must find companions. She pays a young family for a ride in their oxcart and later spends a flea-ridden night in their home. Continuing alone, she hides from riders until a band of pilgrims surrounds her. She walks with them for three days, sharing food and stories. During this time she tells the miller’s wife she has been blessed and lost her only child, but holds back tears. At dusk she slips away from the pilgrims and walks alone through the night, eventually trading her shoes for food. Her feet harden, and she walks barefoot for ten days. Finally, she sees the Montfort château on a cliff. Fearing rejection, she approaches, cleans herself in a brook, and crosses the river into the fields. She asks a peasant if the Montforts still live there, then finds the walled garden. Her attempt to enter is rebuffed: the nurse Agnès strikes her. But Claire, hearing Marguerite’s voice and seeing the ring Marguerite presses into her hand, recognizes her and embraces her in tears.

Key Events

Marguerite sleeps in a church sanctuary and is evicted at dawn.
She prays at the tomb effigies, recalling her lost family.
She purchases supplies and begins walking to Périgord, facing harassment from horsemen.
She joins an oxcart family for a ride and later pays for a flea-ridden night’s shelter.
After traveling alone with fear of highwaymen, she falls in with a band of pilgrims for three days.
She confides in the miller’s wife about her pilgrimage and loss but holds back weeping.
She leaves the pilgrims at night and continues alone, trading her shoes for food and walking barefoot.
After ten days of travel, she arrives at the Montfort château, washes in a brook, and approaches the garden.
The nurse Agnès strikes her, but Claire recognizes her from the ring and embraces her.

Character Development

Marguerite grows more resilient, enduring physical hardships (blisters, fleabites, hunger) without complaint. She humbles herself further, willing to sleep on dirt floors and trade her shoes. Her faith wavers but she prays to her lost family for guidance. Her reunion with Claire shows her capacity for forgiveness and her deep love, as she does not resist after being struck but instead offers the ring as proof of identity.
Claire demonstrates kindness by immediately intervening to stop the abuse of the stranger, even before recognition. Her final embrace shows loyalty and joy at Marguerite’s return.
Agnès (the nurse) acts as an obstacle, striking Marguerite and dismissing her as a slattern—representing the social barriers Marguerite must overcome.
The miller’s wife and the pilgrims offer temporary community and share food, contrasting with the hostility Marguerite meets from horsemen and servants.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Pilgrimage and journey dominate the chapter: Marguerite’s long walk becomes both a physical trial and a spiritual quest. She joins a literal band of pilgrims, but her own journey is also a pilgrimage of grief and homecoming.
Shoes and bare feet symbolize her loss of status and her return to the elemental self she was on the island. Trading her shoes for food marks her complete rejection of false propriety.
Tombs and effigies contrast with Marguerite’s living but impoverished state; the stone lady’s peaceful death underscores Marguerite’s ongoing suffering and her desire for a proper memorial for her own lost family.
Stained glass and darkness in the church evoke the tension between sacred beauty and Marguerite’s marginal position as a homeless refugee.
The ring functions as a token of friendship and identity, bridging the gap between Marguerite’s present ruin and her former life.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter completes Marguerite’s long, dangerous journey from the wilderness back to civilization—specifically to the Montfort household. It tests her endurance to the limit and shows how her identity has been stripped away so completely that even her dearest friend does not recognize her. The emotional climax—Claire’s recognition and embrace—validates her suffering and affirms that genuine love transcends appearances. It also sets up the final act of the story: Marguerite’s reintegration into the world she left years ago, with all the attendant tensions of memory, class, and forgiveness.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Marguerite pray to her lost family rather than to God in the church?
She has been doubting providence and feels more connected to Auguste, Damienne, and her child as intercessors. She asks them to be her angels and to teach her to accept her fate, showing that her faith has become personal and rooted in love for the dead rather than in institutional religion.

2. What does the ring symbolize when Marguerite gives it to Claire?
The ring is a material token of their friendship, given by Claire to Marguerite years earlier. In this moment it serves as irrefutable proof of Marguerite’s identity, cutting through the visual confusion of her ragged appearance. It symbolizes the enduring bond that cannot be erased by time or hardship.

3. How does Marguerite’s barefoot journey echo her life on the island?
On the island she often walked barefoot on rough ground and her soles grew hard. That memory returns as she walks to Périgord; it connects her present suffering to the earlier life she loved, making her physically and emotionally more like the person she was with Auguste. It also signifies a stripping away of civilized comfort and a return to an authentic, vulnerable state.

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