Chapter 85 Summary: ANOTHER WAY
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Chapter Summary
Chapter 85, “ANOTHER WAY,” takes place entirely inside the mental hospital where Molly’s mother is a patient. Stephens has been called away, so Molly once again wears a nurse’s assistant uniform and accompanies Sister Lucille on her rounds. Molly is immediately struck by the stark contrast between this institution and the Covent Garden medical clinic. Where the clinic treated physical wounds, this hospital houses people suffering from severe mental illness.
The first patient Molly assists is Bernard Hughes, a twenty-three-year-old former infantryman blinded by an explosion. He also suffers from extreme shell shock, has attempted suicide many times, and now barely responds to the world. Sister Lucille explains that Hughes is essentially gone, beyond what medicine can currently reach. Other patients are violently agitated, restrained, and sedated; one attempts to bite Molly while she treats a self-inflicted wound.
Later, Molly sees Dr. Foyle step out of a procedure room, his gown bloodied and his mood dejected. Through the door, she glimpses a sheet-covered body. Foyle tells her it was a difficult case. He then reveals that his own father had been a patient there. After serving in the First World War and witnessing the death of his comrades, Foyle’s father suffered lasting psychological trauma, grew increasingly estranged, and once tried to eat his shoe. Foyle, then a capable surgeon, changed his career to study mental disease. He attempted his procedure on his father, but the older man died on the operating table during a seizure.
Foyle turns the conversation to Molly’s mother, asking for the full story. Molly describes the bomb shelter incident—the robbery, assault, and her mother’s subsequent hysteria. Foyle explains that such trauma can resemble shell shock, shattering trust and obsessing the mind. He wonders why her father kept this information from the staff, and suggests that Ambrose likely felt guilty. Foyle expresses his deepest wish: that someday medicine will find “another way” to help people like Molly’s mother and his own father. Molly shares that wish, and both return to work.
Key Events
- Molly assists Sister Lucille on rounds, encountering a catatonic blind veteran (Bernard Hughes) and violent patients.
- Dr. Foyle emerges devastated after a patient dies during his procedure.
- Foyle discloses that his father was also a patient there; his attempt to cure him with the same procedure resulted in his father’s death.
- Foyle probes Molly about the bomb shelter assault on her mother, drawing a parallel between her mother’s trauma and shell shock.
- Foyle and Molly both express the hope that a better, more humane treatment will one day exist.
Character Development
Molly Wakefield shows deep empathy and resilience. She volunteers to help in the ward despite the harrowing scenes, and she listens compassionately to Dr. Foyle’s painful history. Her emotional reaction to learning the full extent of her mother’s trauma (flushed cheeks, tears) reveals her own buried distress.
Dr. Foyle is unmasked as a man personally wounded by the very illnesses he tries to treat. His father’s death under his hands, his choice to specialize in mental disease, and his honest admission of failure add unexpected depth. His question about Molly’s mother also highlights his dedication to understanding patients’ backgrounds, even when it is awkward to ask.
Sister Lucille remains a quiet presence, but her blunt assessment of Bernard Hughes (“the poor man is gone”) underscores the institution’s limitations.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Trauma as a silent wound dominates the chapter. The contrast between physical injuries (treated at the clinic) and mental wounds (often invisible and incurable) is made explicit. Bernard Hughes’s blindness is physical, but his shell shock keeps him locked inside a nonresponsive body. Foyle’s father’s war trauma slowly erased his identity.
The motif of “another way” serves as the chapter’s emotional core. Foyle does not advocate for a specific alternative, but his wish for a different, more effective approach to mental illness reflects a critique of the era’s crude interventions (restraints, sedatives, the failed procedure).
Parental guilt and responsibility appear through two fathers: Ambrose Wakefield’s guilt over allowing the assault, and Dr. Foyle’s guilt over failing to save his own father. Both men carry unseen burdens that affect their actions.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 85 deepens the novel’s investigation into the psychological cost of war and violence, showing that the “enemy” is not only on the battlefield but also inside the mind. It humanizes Dr. Foyle, transforming him from a mere specialist into a man haunted by his own history. The chapter also provides crucial backstory for Molly’s mother and explains why Ambrose kept certain details secret. Most importantly, the title phrase “another way” becomes a quiet plea for a more compassionate future—one that resonates with the novel’s broader themes of redemption and change.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Dr. Foyle ask Molly about her mother’s trauma?
He believes that understanding a patient’s background is essential for effective treatment. After learning that Molly’s mother was violently assaulted, he draws a direct line between that trauma and shell shock, explaining how such an event can rewire a person’s view of the world.
2. What does the chapter reveal about Dr. Foyle’s personal motivation?
Foyle chose to study mental disease after watching his First World War veteran father deteriorate into psychosis. He attempted his own procedure on his father, who died during surgery. This personal loss drives Foyle’s desperate search for effective treatments and also explains his melancholy.
3. How does the setting of the mental hospital contrast with the Covent Garden clinic?
The clinic dealt with physical injuries that were visible and treatable. The hospital deals with illnesses of the mind that are invisible, chronic, and often beyond current medical skill. Molly observes that while wounds of the flesh can heal, mental maladies leave patients permanently altered or unresponsive.