Chapter Four: Wedding Day – Isolation, Race, and the Woods
⚠️ 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
Liz arrives at Mel and Garrett’s wedding dressed in a polyester peach dress, still raw from her recent breakup. She reflects on Mel and Garrett’s love story—a cross‑class romance that once scandalized their town but now seems unremarkable. During the ceremony Liz feels a flicker of genuine joy, and later she participates in a silly dance battle with the bridal party. At the reception she is seated at the singles table, where she observes Claire flirting with Tré while she nurses her own envy. After the toasts, Liz heads to the bar but is intercepted by Nick, Mel’s brother, who makes a disparaging comment about Garrett’s last name and reveals his own stalled career as a police officer. Their conversation is cut short by Caroline, Mel’s daughter, who pulls Liz into a game where children throw battery‑powered votive candles into the woods. Liz and Caroline talk about school, feeling different, and the stars. Liz sketches constellations for Caroline and feels a pang of homesickness. When she returns to the barn, she sees Nick laughing with a group of police officers and realizes she is utterly alone among the people she once knew.
Key Events
- Liz arrives at the wedding wearing a painful dress, still processing her breakup
- She describes Mel and Garrett’s relationship history, from first meeting to the parents’ hostile reactions
- The wedding ceremony proceeds; Liz feels a moment of relief and happiness
- Claire teaches Liz a simple dance routine; they perform it playfully with the groomsmen
- Liz is placed at the singles table; she observes Claire flirting and feels envious
- Nick corners Liz, makes a racist remark about Garrett’s surname, and brags about a future detective promotion
- Caroline invites Liz to play a candle‑throwing game in the woods
- Liz and Caroline discuss school, being “different,” and the importance of not conforming
- Caroline shows Liz her drawing of the ceremony; Liz teaches her about the Summer Triangle and constellations
- Tyler collects the candles from the woods; Petey goes to the bathroom alone
- Liz returns to the barn, sees Nick surrounded by police officers, and feels isolated
Character Development
- Liz: Shows vulnerability after her breakup, yet also a willingness to engage in joy (the dance battle). Her conversation with Caroline reveals how her own childhood experiences of racial isolation shape her guidance; she is protective but honest. The loneliness she feels in a room full of old acquaintances underscores her status as an outsider.
- Caroline: At nine years old, she already feels the pressure to fit in. Her friendship with Vicky (the only other Black girl at school) and her earnest desire to be “like everyone else” highlight the early awareness of racial difference. She is creative and observant, as seen in her detailed sketch.
- Nick: Embodies the town’s underlying racism and class resentment. His comment about Garrett’s last name, his attempted assault on Liz as a child, and his inflated sense of his own career all paint him as a bitter figure who wields his police identity as a shield.
- Claire: A minor character who represents easy social integration; her flirting with Tré contrasts with Liz’s awkwardness.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Race and Belonging – The chapter is saturated with markers of racial difference. Liz recalls Nick calling her a racial slur when they were children. Caroline’s friendship with Vicky is the only thing that makes school bearable, yet they are still “the onlys.” The segregation of Johnstown is described by postal code: Black people live in the valley, white people in the hills. Liz’s isolation in a white‑dominated space mirrors the larger social structure.
The Woods as a Liminal Space – The children throw candles into the forest, turning it into a game zone. Liz notes that the woods now look like “trees” rather than a source of panic. This moment re‑frames the forest as both a playground and a threshold. The candles’ flickering lights mimic fireflies, but the act of throwing them into the darkness foreshadows the forest’s later role as a place where girls vanish.
Surveillance and the Gaze – Liz feels she is being watched “small‑town style” – a steady, unselfconscious stare. This recalls the opening of the novel and establishes a motif of being observed, especially as a Black woman in a predominantly white space. Nick’s presence as a police officer literalizes the surveillance theme.
Stars and Memory – Liz’s constellation‑drawing with Caroline connects her to childhood and a sense of home. The stars are “the one thing she misses about home” – they represent a stable, universal point of reference in contrast to the shifting social landscape.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is the emotional core of the wedding setting. It deepens Liz’s character by showing her raw vulnerability after the breakup and her nuanced relationship with her hometown. The introduction of Nick as a racist police officer sets up a key antagonist for later events. The woods are reframed from a site of childhood fear to a place of children’s play, which will become increasingly sinister as the novel progresses. Caroline’s presence underscores the stakes for the next generation of Black girls in Johnstown. Finally, Liz’s feeling of being utterly alone among familiar faces foreshadows her later role as an investigator who must challenge the town’s silence.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the game of throwing candles into the woods connect to the novel’s larger symbolism?
The game transforms the forest from a place of potential danger into a playful, temporary stage. The candles, which are small and artificial, mimic natural light but are soon collected and returned. This act of throwing light into darkness and then retrieving it echoes how the community treats the disappearances of Black girls: they are briefly noticed, then collected and forgotten. The woods become a repository for what the town wants to ignore.
2. What does Liz’s conversation with Caroline reveal about her own childhood?
Liz’s advice that being “different” is not a bad thing comes directly from her mother’s teaching. She admits that she was the “only” Black student in her classes, and she knows firsthand the pain of being singled out. Rather than offering false comfort, she stays present with Caroline in the “uncomfortable moment,” showing that she has learned to sit with racial tension rather than minimize it.
3. Why does Liz feel so alone at the wedding despite knowing many of the guests?
Liz no longer lives in Johnstown; she has built a career in the city and received a promotion to manager of Northeastern Regional. The townspeople have remained connected to one another, sharing stories and bonds from which she is excluded. Nick’s barely concealed hostility and the presence of a uniformed police force further mark her as an outsider. Her isolation is both racial and social: she has outgrown the town psychologically, but the town has not changed along with her.