Chapter 18 — Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes

⚠️ 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 on December 12, 1929, with Ethel Monroe reflecting on her pregnancy. She feels the baby moving and describes it as tapping out codes. To keep herself occupied, she fills her days with church, sewing circle, auxiliary meetings, and bridge with the ladies. The local economy is struggling—the foundry has closed and the paper mill has cut hours—so Will often accepts barter payments like milk, eggs, and firewood. Ethel admits she is mostly waiting for winter to end and for the baby to arrive.

Myrtle, however, has not recovered from her visit to the springs. She has lost weight, is fidgety, and jumps at shadows. Will has given her nerve pills, but they don't seem to help. Felix, on the other hand, has improved dramatically and is out of his wheelchair, which Will finds medically inexplicable. Myrtle confides in Ethel that she has nightmares about the woman she saw in the water—presumably Eliza Harding. Ethel advises her to forget it and focus on Felix's recovery, but Ethel herself is haunted by Myrtle's story.

Alone in the house, Ethel copes by playing Bessie Smith records, baking, cleaning obsessively, and repeating a mantra to herself: she is Mrs. Monroe, she is going to have a baby, everything is fine. She scrubs until her hands are chapped, trying to keep her mind off the question of whether Myrtle truly saw Eliza Harding in the water.

On December 15, the first major snowstorm hits. Ethel and Will watch the snow pile up, and Ethel asks if they will be trapped. Will jokes about jumping out a window. Ethel tries to calm herself with her mantra. She has strange cravings—raw potatoes, chard, sauerkraut, mint jelly, even a raw turnip with dirt on it. Later, she sneaks into the pantry and retrieves the glass jar of spring water Myrtle gave her. It is nearly empty. She takes the final sip, savoring the metallic taste, and for a few seconds she feels transported back to the springs, as if the water is holding her and knowing her secrets. Will interrupts, asking what she's doing. She claims she's getting beans for dinner, and he helps her down from the stool, touching her belly. He doesn't ask about the empty jar.

On New Year's Eve, Felix falls ill again. Myrtle arrives at the Monroe house without a coat or hat, half-frozen and hysterical. She explains that Felix drank the last of the spring water three days ago and immediately began losing feeling in his legs. Now the paralysis is spreading to his arms and he's having trouble breathing. She begs Ethel for more water, but Ethel has none left. Myrtle admits she's too afraid to go back to the springs herself. Will has Felix taken to the hospital by ambulance, but Felix dies by morning of a spinal infection.

Will comes home at dawn to tell Ethel the news. He says it's a miracle Felix lived as long as he did given the shrapnel from the war. Ethel wants to go to Myrtle, but Will tells her Myrtle is in the hospital under heavy sedation and forbids Ethel from visiting, saying it would upset her and she must think of the baby.

On January 8, Ethel dreams of the pool again. A soothing, singsongy voice reminds her that she promised to give anything to have a child. When she asks what it wants, the sound of running water turns to laughter that shakes her to the bone.

Key Events

Ethel's pregnancy progresses; she feels the baby moving and has unusual cravings.
Myrtle's mental state deteriorates after her springs visit; she suffers nightmares about a woman in the water.
Felix recovers miraculously, then suddenly relapses and dies of a spinal infection.
Ethel secretly finishes the last of the spring water, experiencing a vision of the springs.
Myrtle arrives desperate for more water on New Year's Eve, revealing Felix's dependence on it.
Will hospitalizes Felix and later prevents Ethel from visiting Myrtle.
Ethel dreams of the pool, where a voice reminds her of her promise to give anything for a child.

Character Development

Ethel becomes increasingly obsessive and secretive. Her compulsive cleaning and mantra reveal her anxiety and denial. She hides the spring water from Will and lies about it, showing her growing attachment to the supernatural. Her cravings and the dream suggest she is being drawn into a bargain she may not fully understand.

Myrtle is shattered by her experience at the springs. Her physical decline and frantic plea for more water show how the spring water has become both a cure and a curse. Her fear of returning to the springs indicates she knows the danger, yet she is willing to risk it for Felix.

Will emerges as a protective but controlling figure. He dismisses Ethel's worries, makes light of the snowstorm, and later forbids her from visiting Myrtle, prioritizing the baby's safety over Ethel's emotional needs. His medical explanations for Felix's death—spinal infection—contrast with the supernatural implications.

Felix serves as a tragic example of the spring water's power. His brief recovery and sudden death highlight the cycle of miraculous healing and decline that the water seems to cause.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The bargain with the pool: The dream voice explicitly reminds Ethel of her promise to give anything for a child, foreshadowing a sacrifice.
Addiction and dependency: Myrtle's desperation for more water and Felix's relapse illustrate the addictive pull of the spring water.
Winter isolation and entrapment: The snowstorm and Ethel's fear of being trapped mirror her emotional and psychological confinement.
Compulsive cleaning as coping: Ethel's scrubbing and mantra are attempts to control her anxiety and suppress the supernatural truth.
Secrets and concealment: Ethel hides the jar from Will, and Will hides the truth about Myrtle's condition from Ethel.
The woman in the water: Eliza Harding's presence lingers through Myrtle's nightmares and Ethel's visions, symbolizing the pool's malevolent influence.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter escalates the supernatural stakes by showing the deadly consequences of the spring water. Felix's death proves that the water's healing power is not without cost, and Myrtle's breakdown demonstrates the psychological toll. Ethel's secret consumption of the water and her dream of the pool set up the central conflict: she is being drawn into a bargain that may require a terrible sacrifice. The chapter also deepens the mystery of Eliza Harding and the pool's true nature, while Will's medical explanations create tension between rational and supernatural interpretations.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Ethel hide the empty jar from Will, and what does this reveal about her state of mind?

Ethel hides the jar because she knows Will would disapprove of her drinking the spring water, especially given its mysterious origins. This secrecy shows her growing obsession and her willingness to deceive her husband to maintain a connection to the pool. It also reveals her internal conflict: she wants to believe the water is harmless, but she senses it is dangerous.

2. How does Felix's death complicate the idea that the spring water has healing powers?

Felix initially recovers after drinking the water, but his relapse and death from a spinal infection suggest that the water's effects are temporary or even harmful. The fact that he lost feeling in his limbs after drinking the last of the water implies the water may have been sustaining him, and without it, his body failed. This complicates the notion of healing, suggesting the water might be a curse in disguise.

3. What does Ethel's dream on January 8 foreshadow about her future actions?

The dream voice reminds Ethel of her promise to give anything for a child, and the laughter suggests a malevolent force. This foreshadows that Ethel will be forced to make a choice—likely involving a sacrifice—to secure her baby's safety or to fulfill her desire for motherhood. The dream sets up the central conflict of the novel, where Ethel must decide how far she is willing to go.