Chapter 39: Faith — Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways
⚠️ 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 Day 299 at a US military base, where the narrator—an army widow named Faith—is visited by Susan, another widow from the base. Susan arrives with gossip: the army is introducing a draft, and army spouses will be among the first called up. Susan is outraged, worried about her three daughters, and dismissive of Faith's stake in the matter, telling her that as a childless wife, the draft won't affect her.
Faith's response is immediate and visceral. She takes the glass of water she's been drinking and pours it slowly over Susan's head, then tells her to get out of her house. The act is deliberate—Faith admits she considered punching Susan but chose the water instead. It's a rejection not just of Susan but of the placating, agreeable army-wife identity Faith has worn for years.
The chapter then moves into Faith's backstory. She met Daniel in a nightclub in Madison, Alabama. She describes marrying into the military as taking on an identity, one she always resisted. During his deployments, she would leave the base, returning to Maine or moving in with her parents and transferring to a hospital. When the Plague struck, Daniel had just returned from a posting in Germany. He was home for only three days before being recalled to active duty in the States. His unit was one of the most successful in terms of survival, but Daniel died in May, the last of his unit to die. Faith begged him to desert; he refused, telling her he was helping people.
Faith then reveals the deepest source of her pain: she and Daniel tried for a baby throughout their five-year marriage, and she was pregnant eight times, miscarrying every time. She worked as a neonatal nurse, a job she loved but that constantly reminded her of what she couldn't have. When Daniel died, she felt an unexpected emotion: relief. Not relief that he was dead, but relief that the possibility of motherhood was finally, definitively gone. With only 10 percent of the world's men alive, and with their last frozen embryo used up, she knows for certain she will never be a mother.
She was also relieved to be reassigned from neonatal to oncology nursing. The day she learned she was being moved, she cried in her car—not from sadness but from gratitude that she no longer had to face babies and mothers every day.
The chapter contrasts Faith with Susan. Before the Plague, Susan loved her life: she was ambivalent about her husband, had three athletic daughters, ran the social scene on the base, and was sliding into a comfortable middle-aged routine. Faith, by contrast, loved her husband but hated her life—her body for failing her, her job for reminding her of her infertility, her husband's absences, and women like Susan who looked down on her.
When the draft letter arrives, Faith is excited. She applies for the First Class program, a fast-track for promotion to Private First Class after basic training. She lists her qualifications: resilience, handling extreme pressure, leadership, fast learning, physical fitness, and experience in a physically demanding role. She's accepted. On the first day of basic combat training, Faith walks through the door for fast-track recruits while Susan, face slack with shock, goes through the other door.
Key Events
-
Susan tells Faith about the draft of army spouses and dismisses her as unaffected because she has no children.
-
Faith pours water over Susan's head and orders her out of the house.
-
Faith reflects on meeting Daniel in Alabama and her pattern of leaving the base during his deployments.
-
Daniel returns from Germany, is recalled to duty, and dies in May as the last of his unit to survive.
-
Faith reveals her eight miscarriages over five years of marriage.
-
She describes feeling relief at Daniel's death because motherhood became impossible.
-
She is reassigned from neonatal to oncology nursing and cries from gratitude.
-
The draft letter arrives; Faith applies for the First Class fast-track program and is accepted.
-
On the first day of basic training, Faith enters the fast-track door while Susan enters the other.
Character Development
Faith is the chapter's central figure, and her development is its core. She begins as a widow still processing grief but quickly reveals a harder, more decisive edge. The water-pouring incident is a turning point: she sheds the placating army-wife persona she's worn for years. Her backstory explains why—the accumulated pain of eight miscarriages, a beloved husband who chose duty over desertion, and a job that daily reminded her of what she couldn't have. By the chapter's end, she's transformed from a grieving widow into someone who sees the draft as an opportunity rather than a punishment. Her excitement is genuine, and her acceptance into the First Class program feels earned.
Susan serves as a foil. She represents the old order—the social-climbing army wife whose identity was built on motherhood and base hierarchy. Her shock at the two doors underscores how much the world has changed.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Water: Faith pours water over Susan's head—a deliberate, almost ritual act of cleansing and rejection. It's not violence but a symbolic washing away of the old identity and the old rules.
Two doors: The chapter ends with Faith entering the fast-track door while Susan enters the other. The doors symbolize the fork in the road for women after the Plague: one path toward new roles and purpose, the other toward clinging to the old world.
Childlessness and motherhood: Faith's eight miscarriages and her work as a neonatal nurse create a painful paradox—she's surrounded by babies she can't have. The chapter explores how infertility's hardest part is hope itself.
Relief after loss: Faith's unexpected relief at Daniel's death—because it ends the possibility of motherhood—is a complex, honest emotion that complicates simple narratives of grief.
The draft as opportunity: For Faith, the draft isn't a burden but a chance to redefine herself. The military becomes a new purpose, a way to channel her resilience.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 39 gives voice to a perspective rarely explored in the novel's broader narrative: a woman who is childless by circumstance, not choice, and who finds liberation in the collapse of the old order. Faith's story complicates the grief narrative—she mourns Daniel deeply but also feels relief, and she embraces the draft in a way that challenges assumptions about how women would respond to conscription. The chapter also introduces the First Class program, a significant plot development that will presumably shape Faith's role in the story going forward. The two-doors ending is a powerful image of divergent futures for women in this new world.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Faith pour water over Susan's head rather than punching her, and what does this choice reveal about her character?
Faith considers punching Susan but chooses water instead. The act is deliberate and symbolic—it's a rejection of Susan's dismissal of her as childless and unaffected by the draft. The water is a cleansing gesture, washing away the placating army-wife identity Faith has worn for years. It reveals that Faith is capable of controlled, calculated defiance rather than impulsive violence, and it marks the moment she stops performing the role of agreeable widow.
2. How does Faith's experience of infertility shape her response to Daniel's death and to the draft?
Faith's eight miscarriages and her work as a neonatal nurse created a daily reminder of what she couldn't have. When Daniel died, she felt relief—not that he was dead, but that the possibility of motherhood was gone. With only 10 percent of men alive and no frozen embryos or sperm remaining, she knows for certain she'll never be a mother. This certainty is liberating. It allows her to embrace the draft as an opportunity rather than a burden, and to pursue the First Class program with genuine enthusiasm.
3. What do the two doors at the end of the chapter symbolize?
The two doors represent the divergent paths available to women in the post-Plague world. Faith enters the fast-track door, embracing the military as a new purpose and a chance to redefine herself. Susan enters the other door, presumably taking the standard path. The image suggests that the Plague has created new hierarchies and opportunities, and that women's responses to this new world will shape their futures. Faith's choice reflects her resilience and her readiness to leave the old identity behind.
Navigation
-
Previous Chapter
-
Next Chapter