Chapter 16: The Waterfall, the Bear, and the Question of God

⚠️ 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

From a high ridge, the nameless girl sees a vast plain and believes she can glimpse the far ocean. She imagines crossing the continent in a fortnight, but realizes she would be utterly alone there. Resting, she notices that what she took for boulders are actually enormous, buffalo-like beasts. She feels a warmth toward the harsh land. Then she senses something large following her. In panic, she runs, drops her valuable driftwood staff, and scrambles down a cliff to a river. She rounds a bend and finds a majestic five-section waterfall. Fear drives her onto a narrow ledge behind the leftmost cascade, where she discovers a small cave. Moments later, two native men appear—likely Piscataway or Powhatan, armed with bows. They search the ledge but miss the cave. One stays to eat while the other retraces the route. The girl hides, shivering, and eventually falls asleep. She wakes at sunset, eats smoked fish, and drinks spray. As night falls, a colossal bear sits in the pool below, staring at the falls with what she interprets as wonder. This sight triggers a theological epiphany: if a bear can feel awe, it can know God and thus has a soul. She reconsiders the meaning of biblical dominion, imagining that bears might have their own gospel claiming dominion over men. She concludes that God must be changeable and multiple, perhaps even all things. A voice in her ear questions whether that also means God is nothing. Desolate, she summons the ghost of the glassblower for comfort. By dawn, the bear is gone, and the blood rushing back into her numbed feet brings searing pain.

Key Events

The girl reaches a ridge with a sweeping view and considers crossing the continent.
She rests, removes her boots, and observes a herd of enormous cow-like beasts.
Sensing a large animal following her, she flees, drops her staff, and descends to a river.
She discovers a five-section waterfall, scrambles onto a ledge, and crawls into a hidden cave behind the cascade.
Two native men arrive, search the area, but fail to find her hiding place.
The girl hides through the afternoon and into the night, eating fish and drinking spray.
At night, a giant bear sits in the pool and gazes at the waterfall with perceived wonder.
This encounter sparks a radical reinterpretation of Christian doctrine and the nature of God.
A disembodied voice challenges her new theology.
She summons the memory of the glassblower to stave off loneliness.
At dawn, the bear is gone, and she feels the return of pain in her feet.

Character Development

The girl’s survival instincts sharpen: she correctly interprets the danger of being followed and chooses a nearly impossible hiding spot. Yet her emotional and spiritual vulnerability deepens. The encounter with the bear pushes her beyond the rote Christianity she knew in England and the fort. She becomes a theologian in solitude, questioning the very foundations of her faith. Her ability to project empathy onto a wild beast reveals a growing capacity for interconnectedness, even as the voice of doubt isolates her further.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Awe and the Sublime: The waterfall and the bear instill a sense of wonder that the girl equates with religious experience. Nature itself becomes a cathedral.
Redefining Dominion: The girl rejects the conventional interpretation of humanity’s dominion over creation. She suggests that dominion might mean stewardship rather than slaughter, and that other creatures may have their own divine covenants.
The Hidden Cave: The cave behind the waterfall functions as a womb-like refuge, a liminal space between the world of human pursuit and wild nature. It allows for revelation.
The Voice of Doubt: The internal voice that questions “what if, girl, god is all… there is nothing?” represents the collapse of certainty. It mirrors the theological crisis many early colonists faced in the wilderness.
The Ghost of the Glassblower: The girl summons this memory as a surrogate for human connection. It underscores her profound loneliness and her need for touch and comfort.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks the novel’s philosophical heart. The girl’s solitary reflection under the waterfall dramatically reinterprets the religious framework she was raised with, proposing a panentheistic God who exists in all living things. It challenges the colonial justification for dominating both land and people. At the same time, the chapter demonstrates her resilience: she escapes human pursuers, endures physical hardship, and navigates a theological crisis. The bear—silent, immense, and contemplative—becomes a symbol of the unknowable other, forcing both the girl and the reader to reconsider what it means to have a soul.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does the girl initially feel warmth for the land after seeing the buffalo-like beasts?
She is struck by the coexistence of beauty and danger. The beasts are “lovable monsters” that evoke her empathy. This moment softens her view of the wilderness as purely hostile and allows her to feel affection for its creatures.
How does the girl’s interpretation of “dominion” in Genesis change after watching the bear?
She concludes that dominion does not grant humans the right to kill or suppress other species. Instead, she imagines that if bears have a gospel, they too might believe they have dominion over all, including humans. This makes her see God as multiple and changeable, not fixed by any single text or species.
What is the significance of the voice that asks, “what if, girl, god is all; does that mean that, within the all that god is, there is nothing?”
The voice introduces the possibility of nihilism within her expanding theology. If God is everything, then God may be indistinguishable from emptiness. This doubt undermines her new vision and leaves her feeling desolate, showing that her spiritual journey is incomplete and fraught with risk.