Contents
Chapter 39
Overview
After Lucille’s deception about Meg’s adoption becomes public, family ties fray. Tom and Lucille briefly broker peace for his writing, but Lucille reads his manuscript, accuses him of plagiarizing Fitzgerald, and viciously belittles him. Crushed, Tom goes on a multi-day bender. At dawn, Lucille witnesses Tom deliberately drown himself in the lake; rescuers later recover his body.
Summary
Meg describes how Lucille’s insults and her adoption scheme become public, leading other mothers to bar their children from Meg. Big Mr. Heidelberg confronts Tom, demanding the “foolish business” end and urging Tom to control Lucille. Tom and Lucille agree to a fragile truce so Tom can finish his novel, and Tom begins taking Meg for early swims, becoming a steady protector as he explains the history of “slave dogs.”
Talk turns to a hopeful fall trip to New York to deliver Tom’s manuscript. But after Lucille secretly reads it, she confronts Tom at dinner, producing Fitzgerald’s book and showing lifted lines and parallel plot points. She denounces the work as derivative and “amateurish,” then savages Tom’s life failures and his past at Yale, crushing his confidence as his parents’ hopes loom over him.
That night Tom begins drinking heavily. Meg hides the truth from Willy May and from Mrs. Heidelberg at the door, claiming head colds. Tom keeps drinking through the day and into the night, wandering the yard, singing and pocketing trinkets, while Meg pleads with him to rest so they can keep swimming.
At dawn, Lucille, disheveled and frantic, bursts in saying Tom rowed to the lake’s center, weighted his clothes with rocks, and jumped in. She calls for help. Family and workers rush to the shore; a boy and Tom’s brother dive repeatedly. Eventually the boy locates Tom in the deep water and men haul him in. Meg is led away as the recovery proceeds, imagining Tom still singing as he went under.
Who Appears
- MegNarrator; isolated by Lucille’s lies, bonds with Tom over swimming, tries to protect the household, witnesses aftermath of Tom’s suicide.
- Tom HeidelbergStruggling writer; confronted by father, accused of plagiarism by Lucille, spirals into a bender and drowns himself in the lake.
- Lucille HeidelbergInstigator; her adoption fraud is exposed. Drunk, she berates Tom’s draft as plagiarized, provoking his collapse; witnesses his drowning.
- Mrs. HeidelbergTom’s mother; tries to visit, is turned away by Meg, later arrives at the lake distraught as recovery efforts begin.
- Big Mr. Heidelberg (Big Tom)Tom’s father; storms in to end the “foolish business” and pressure Tom to control Lucille; later at the lakeside recovery.
- Willy MayHousekeeper; shuttles messages and nearly discovers the drinking; kept away by Meg’s cover story.
- Tom’s brotherAssists at the lake, dives with a boy to locate and recover Tom’s body.
- Young boy rescuerLocal boy who dives repeatedly in the lake and finds Tom underwater for retrieval.
- MarybethMeg’s cousin; referenced as estranged after Lucille’s lies, recipient of Meg’s apology note.