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History of Wolves


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In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

Created: 11/18/17

Replies: 8

Posted Nov. 18, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

The last chapter of the book is Linda's first day of tenth grade. Paul is dead, and Lily shows up to school pregnant. The final pages Linda spends fantasizing about giving Lily a letter that she wrote, pretending to be Mr. Grierson, and then taking Lily out on the canoe, just like Lily said Mr. Grierson had done. She imagines forcing a kiss on Lily and then becoming Lily, "the one wanted more than anyone else" (p. 275) Why do you think Linda imagines herself in this scenario with Lily?


Posted Dec. 01, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
susiej

Join Date: 10/15/14

Posts: 363

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

At last - and it takes to the very last sentence of the book - she recognizes and admits her loneliness and emptiness. She recognizes and admits she is just as lost as Lily.


Posted Dec. 02, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
paml

Join Date: 10/25/12

Posts: 83

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

I agree with susiej, Linda wants to be wanted more than anyone else. It didn't happen with her parents, it didn't happen with the Gardners, it didn't happen with Mr. Grierson. Maybe if she was Lilly she would have felt wanted. However, Linda is still struggling with this issue at age 37. Linda was not a character that I could like, yet I could understand her. Not a novel that I could recommend to anyone else.


Posted Dec. 04, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
marganna

Join Date: 10/14/11

Posts: 153

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

Unable to answer this question; by the end of the book all I wanted was to be finished. I did not get the significance of the last part of the book.


Posted Dec. 09, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
reene

Join Date: 02/18/15

Posts: 497

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

I felt this whole chapter was unnecessary. I felt as a reader, I was done, the book was done. I have no idea why the author added this silly letter, a trip in a canoe and a kiss. Paul was dead, and what was it the judge said?


Posted Dec. 10, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
celiap

Join Date: 07/27/17

Posts: 57

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

It was a weird ending wasn't it? I just imagine the author saying 'Remember Lily? I don't want you to forget her, so here she is!!'. Obviously Linda did not forget her.


Posted Dec. 18, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kdowney25

Join Date: 01/25/16

Posts: 183

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

I totally did not understand this last part. I found it very confusing and had to reread it a few times, and still left with a feeling of "what??") But quite frankly I was so glad to finally be done with this book that I probably didn't attend to it as carefully as I should have.


Posted Dec. 18, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kdowney25

Join Date: 01/25/16

Posts: 183

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

I'm with you. Marianna. I just wanted to be done.


Posted Dec. 21, 2017 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Silly Lotus

Join Date: 10/07/15

Posts: 15

RE: In the last chapter, why do you think Linda imagines herself in the scenario with Lily?

I too felt the book effectively ended with Paul's death. The Lily story line seemed like a distraction, or, more likely, the author's attempt to show the inevitable future of Linda if she stays in her then current state. I really thought the story should have followed the tension between the right of a child to survive with medical intervention and the right of parents to follow their religious beliefs. The effect of Pauls' death and the reason was never really hashed out for Linda to reconcile and yet she felt guilty.


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