Chapter 22: The End of Everything Begins

⚠️ 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 a Tuesday morning. Fern is summoned to Dr. Vincent’s office, where he gives her a two-week warning: she will deliver her baby on August 14, exactly ten days away. He excuses her from housework and warns her to avoid stairs, sudden movements, and baths. Fern feels the clock ticking down, knowing that after her baby arrives, Holly’s will follow, and then Reverend Jerry will take them away. She believes Holly must run away with the witches now.

That night, Hagar lies awake, disturbed by dreams of her mother knocking on a window but unable to hear over a train. She decides she cannot ignore her worry. She borrows Mr. Jean’s car and drives to Miss Wellwood’s house after eleven o’clock. Hagar forces Miss Wellwood to let her in. She sees that Miss Wellwood’s face looks strange and swollen. When Hagar turns on the light, she realizes Miss Wellwood is pregnant. Hagar returns home to fetch her sister Miriam, a midwife. They drive back and help Miss Wellwood to the guest room. Miriam brews a tea to hasten the birth.

Miss Wellwood’s labor is excruciating. The thing inside her seems to have hands that twist her organs. As the birth progresses, Hagar pulls something into a bucket. Miss Wellwood glimpses a writhing nest of bone-white eels. Hagar takes the bucket to the kitchen, crushes the eels’ skulls with a hammer, and flushes them down the toilet.

During the pain, Miss Wellwood experiences a flood of memories: as a child, she saw her father between the legs of a dead girl named Clara; at twenty-eight, she became pregnant by Charles, a church organ repairman, and her father forbade the marriage; she wrote Charles a letter ending their relationship, took a train to Columbia alone, gave birth, and nursed the baby for three weeks before giving it up, punishing herself daily; after her father’s funeral, she struggled to keep the Home afloat. These memories surface as she sobs in Miriam’s arms, the sound of the eels drumming the bucket filling her head.

Key Events

Dr. Vincent informs Fern she is on two-week warning, due to deliver August 14.
Fern feels the pressure of time and resolves that Holly must escape with the witches.
Hagar, unable to sleep, borrows Mr. Jean’s car and drives to Miss Wellwood’s house late at night.
Hagar forces Miss Wellwood to open the door and discovers she is pregnant.
Hagar fetches Miriam, and together they prepare to deliver the baby.
Miss Wellwood suffers a violent, painful labor, during which she has flashbacks to her past.
Hagar pulls a nest of bone-white eels from Miss Wellwood and destroys them.
Miss Wellwood remembers giving birth at twenty-eight and giving up the child, as well as witnessing her father’s abuse of a girl named Clara.

Character Development

Miss Wellwood: Her facade of control crumbles completely. The chapter reveals the trauma she has carried for decades: her father’s cruelty, her forced abandonment of a child, and the lifelong suppression of her sexuality and humanity. The birth of the eels forces her to confront the “bad moments” she kept buried.
Hagar: She acts decisively and authoritatively, overriding Miss Wellwood’s defenses. Her dream about her mother and the train drives her to investigate, and she treats Miss Wellwood with a firm, almost maternal authority, unafraid to ignore her employer’s commands.
Fern: Though she appears only briefly, her anxiety about the two-week warning reinforces the countdown that will drive the final act of the novel.
Miriam: She quietly supports her sister, performing the practical tasks of midwifery without judgment.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Unnatural pregnancy and bodily horror: Miss Wellwood’s pregnancy is described as an “abomination” and results in eels, not a human child. This grotesque birth literalizes the idea of a sin or trauma being expelled from the body.
Train whistle and dream symbolism: Hagar’s dream of her mother at the window, silenced by a train, echoes Aunt Sally’s fortune-telling interpretation that a train whistle means a dangerous undertaking requiring nerve. The train motif links to Fern’s earlier escape fantasies and to Miss Wellwood’s memory of taking a train to Columbia alone.
Penance and memory: Miss Wellwood’s flashbacks reveal a lifetime of punishment she inflicted on herself—nursing the baby while forcing herself to look at it, crushing the good feelings. The birth of the eels becomes a physical manifestation of that repressed pain.
The “pain room”: The chapter uses repetitive, visceral language to describe Miss Wellwood’s labor as being trapped in a room made of pain, emphasizing loss of control and the inescapability of past sins.
Hands: References to hands appear repeatedly—the giant hands that torture Miss Wellwood, the Hands of Faith sculpture she stares at, and the hands of Hagar and Miriam delivering the eels. Hands represent both divine judgment and human intervention.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 22 provides the crucial backstory for the Home’s authoritarian director, revealing that she is not merely a villain but a woman shaped by a repressive father, forced adoption, and a lifetime of self-denial. The unnatural birth of eels confirms that the supernatural elements of the novel are not limited to the girls’ witchcraft; the Home itself is infected with something hidden and grotesque. This chapter raises the stakes: if the director herself is corrupted, the girls have even less protection. It also deepens the theme of unwanted pregnancies and the brutal choices women are forced to make. The chapter ends with Miss Wellwood sobbing, broken, which clears the way for the girls’ potential rebellion.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Hagar decide to go to Miss Wellwood’s house in the middle of the night?
Hagar is unable to sleep due to a recurring dream in which her mother knocks on a window but cannot be heard over a train whistle. She interprets this as a warning that something dangerous is afoot, and her worry overrides her usual restraint. She borrows a car and forces her way into Miss Wellwood’s home.
What do the bone-white eels born from Miss Wellwood represent?
The eels are a physical manifestation of Miss Wellwood’s repressed trauma and guilt. They are not a normal baby but a grotesque, writhing nest that she cannot bear to look at. Their origins are tied to her past: she gave birth once before and was forced to give up the child, and she witnessed her father’s abuse. The eels symbolize the unnatural consequences of a life built on denial, shame, and sin.
How does the chapter use the concept of the “pain room” to develop Miss Wellwood’s character?
The “pain room” is a recurring metaphor for Miss Wellwood’s experience of labor—a space where she loses all control and is reduced to pure suffering. This mirrors the emotional “room” she has built around her memories, which she has kept locked away. The birth forces her to relive those moments, effectively breaking down the walls she has maintained for decades. By the end, she is sobbing openly, suggesting a possible emotional release or breaking point.