Night Road

“Most of the kids at Pine High lived on the island, and, really, the other side of the bridge was a whole different world. Geographically, only about three hundred feet separated Pine Island from Port George, but there were many ways to calculate distance. Port George was where nice, upstanding boys from Pine Island went to buy beer and cigarettes at the minimart, using fake IDs they made on old magic cards.”

This passage demonstrates the literal and symbolic differences between Lexi’s world and the Farradays’. Lexi must work a part-time job and save up for her college, yet Mia and Zach don’t have to worry about money in any way. Likewise, Lexi is limited in opportunities, while Jude worries a which prestigious college her twins will attend. This difference in background and upbringing plays a significant role in the interactions between Lexi and the Farradays after the car accident, demonstrating the way Kristin Hannah explores socioeconomic disparity in the novel.

“The magnitude of what she’d almost done knocked the breath from her. He didn’t even like her, and, worse than that, he wasn’t available for her. Jude had made that clear; so had Mia. And Mia was what mattered, not some useless, baseless crush on a boy who fell in love with a different girl every week.”

In this passage, Hannah establishes a central conflict of Part 1. Lexi is in a challenging position relating to how she feels about Zach and her devotion to Mia. She loves Zach, yet, as Mia’s best friend, she knows that Zach is off-limits. This situation creates tension among the characters that engages the reader’s interest.

“Jude sat back. Her heart ached for Lexi; she knew how hard life had been for the girl, how hard it still was sometimes. While most of the island kids—like her own—were looking all over the country for the perfect college, Lexi was planning on going to the local junior college after graduation. She worked too many hours at the ice cream shop, saving every cent she earned. Her pie-in-the-sky dream was a full scholarship to the UW, but those were few and far between.”

Not only do Mia and Zach care deeply for Lexi, but Jude also finds herself drawn to the teen, reflecting The Power of Motherhood. Jude understands the complex background Lexi comes from and knows that this background will prevent her from having the same opportunities her children will have—this is the central example of Hannah’s exploration of socioeconomic disparity in the novel. Thus, Jude steps in as another mother figure in Lexi’s life.

“They were going down a bad road here; she should hit the brakes now, tell him it was too bad that they loved each other and let it go. Now, while she still could. She should tell him no, say she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her friendship with Mia, but when she looked at him, she had no strength to turn him away. He made everything inside of her stop hurting.”

Lexi and Zach continue to struggle with their feelings for each other and how their relationship will impact Mia, who has been hurt in a similar situation previously. However, Hannah evokes sympathy for Lexi’s predicament by reflecting on her “hurting.” The references to “hit[ting] the brakes” and “going down a bad road” foreshadow the car accident that will kill Mia.

“Yeah, she loved Zach. With all of her heart and soul, but she didn’t love Mia any less. It was a different emotion, rounder and softer and more comfortable; maybe it was more solid and reliable, too. All she knew was that she couldn’t trade one for the other. That would be like having to choose between air to breathe and water to drink. She needed both to survive.”

This passage continues to demonstrate Lexi’s difficult situation with Mia and Zach. She loves them both for different reasons, and she knows she can’t live without either of them. Hannah uses tactile metaphors (“softer” and “solid”) to make the difference between these kinds of love tangible for readers.

“She signed. Zach’s view of love had been painted by his family; hers was a little darker. She knew how it felt to be abandoned by someone who’d claimed love.”

Lexi’s reflections in this passage demonstrate the Farraday family’s powerful influence on Mia and Zach. Likewise, they show The Influence of Loss on Lexi after her experience with love and abandonment.

“‘I shoulda known you wouldn’t want beauty school. Barbara told me as much. You’re the first one of us ever to go to college. College.’ Eva said the word reverently. ‘We’re so proud of you. And you need to get to know your other aunt. Her kids and grandkids are dying to meet you.’ She patted Lexi’s hand. ‘I know you got your boy to think about, but he’s goin’ off somewhere with his sister. So I wanted you to know you had me to think about, too. You aren’t alone anymore, Alexa. Not unless you want to be.’”

For the first time in Lexi’s life, she knows what it’s like to have an obligation to her family. Before she met Eva, Lexi thought she was utterly alone. Now Lexi knows she has more family members in Florida, and Eva wants Lexi to meet and live with them. While Eva is a static character, she influences the conflict regarding Lexi, Zach, and Mia’s choices in Part 1. Lexi must now choose between her true family and the Farraday family.

“The heady scent of roses captured her, made her stand there a moment longer than she’d intended. There was such peace for her here. Every plant, every flower, every shrub was placed according to her plan. If she didn’t like the way something grew or spread or bloomed, she yanked it out and replaced it. She was the Red Queen of this realm, in complete control, and, as such, she was never disappointed.”

Jude’s Garden represents her desire to control her life and those in it. She knows that she can work with and manipulate her garden until it reaches her ideal shape and beauty. Jude learns that family can’t be controlled in the same way when her children start going to parties and drinking. Once Jude loses Mia, she forgets about her garden and her desire to maintain control of her life.

“‘That’s not fair, Zach,’ Jude said. She felt unsettled, as if everything was unspooling around her, falling free, rolling away, and she couldn’t find anything to hold onto. ‘Fair?’ Zach said. ‘Is that what matters now? You used to say you wanted us to be happy, but that’s only true when we do what you want us to do.’”

This conversation between Jude and Zach demonstrates the conflict underpinning Jude’s characterization. This conflict will deepen over the remainder of the novel as Jude struggles not to blame Zach for Mia’s death. This passage also shows how Jude’s controlling nature negatively impacts her children; the images of “falling free” are juxtaposed with her pristine garden.

“‘I’ll have Miles get you some information. It’s hard, though. We’re waiting to hear about…Mia, too.’ Jude looked at Eva, and though they had almost nothing in common, they had in this moment, this mother’s worry strung between them.”

Eva and Jude come from very different backgrounds and live in different worlds. However, as both women await news about the teenagers after the car crash, this moment in the hospital shows how much they have in common and how unimportant their differences are. The ellipsis reflects the temporary obliteration of their differences as it crosses a divide between words.

“‘Don’t put her in the dark,’ Zach said in a hoarse voice. ‘I’m not really the one who was afraid. It was her.’ His voice cracked. ‘She didn’t want anyone to know.’ At that little reminder of who they were, who they’d been—the twins—Jude felt the last tiny bit of courage crumble away.”

As the Farradays prepare for their final goodbyes with Mia, Zach shares that Mia is afraid of the dark. This statement shows the strong connection between the twins and heightens the tragedy of the family’s loss. Hannah poignantly tucks the words “the twins” between dashes protectively to reflect the twin’s past together in the safe family environment. This statement also initiates Jude’s descent into grief and her fight to come to terms with Mia’s death.

“Jude saw how desperate Zach was for her approval, and it broke her heart. As if a college choice could undo all of this tragedy somehow and return their family to them. It was her fault he felt this way. She’d made college so damned important, and he wanted her love as much as he needed Mia. She knew she should talk to him about this, tell him it was a bad idea; her voice was gone, though. All she could think about was the woman she’d been before. The mother to whom USC had been so important.”

After Mia’s death, Zach says that he’ll still go to USC because it’s what Mia would want, and Jude realizes that she put a lot of pressure on her children. This realization increases Jude’s guilt about how she raised her children and her part in the accident that killed her daughter. Jude’s guilt relates to the theme of Forgiveness Versus Justice because it is answered later in the novel when Zach forgives her.

“Or maybe that wasn’t true. Maybe she knew now what she hadn’t known before: she wasn’t kind and caring and compassionate and even-tempered. She was angry and weak and even a little vindictive. Most of all, she was a bad mother.”

This passage demonstrates how much Mia’s death changes Jude and how quickly she shifts her attitude about The Power of Motherhood. This rapid change in character engages the reader by generating character development that matches the magnitude of the novel’s dramatic events.

“Lexi walked over to the podium and looked out over the gallery. Her gaze went to Zach. ‘I drank, and I drove, and I killed my best friend. My lawyer tells me that guilt or innocence is a question of law, but he’s wrong. How can I atone? That’s the real question. I can’t. I can’t. I can only pay for it and say how deeply sorry I am. I love…Zach and the Farradays and Mia. I will always love them, and I pray that someday they will hear those words from me and not be hurt by them. Thank you.’ She returned to her place at the defendant’s table and sat down.”

Lexi’s statement in court demonstrates willingness to take responsibility for her role in Mia’s death. Hannah uses an emotional tone, particularly the italicized repetition of “I can’t,” to evoke pathos when Lexi takes all the blame for the accident.

“It wasn’t like that for her. She saw blank spaces everywhere—in an unused chair at the dinner table, in teen magazines that came addressed to Mia Farraday, in clothes left in a hamper. Mostly, she saw Mia in Zach, and it was unbearable.”

The images of “unused chair[s]” and magazines and clothes demonstrates Jude’s mental state after Mia’s. Hannah reflects these “blank spaces” with the temporal jump of six years that subsequently divides Part 1 and Part 2.

“Jude had forgotten he was even there. ‘I’m sorry, Zach. I know this is terrible, tragic, but you need to listen to me.’ ‘When have I ever done anything but listen to you?’ he said. She heard the anger in his voice and stepped back from it. ‘W-what are you saying, Zach?’ ‘It’s my baby,’ Zach said firmly. ‘Mine and Lexi’s. I can’t just turn my back on that. How can you want me to?’”

This exchange between Jude and Zach occurs when the Farradays learn that Lexi is pregnant with Zach’s baby. Zach wants to take responsibility for his child, but because of Jude’s inability to forgive Lexi and face her grief, she doesn’t want Zach involved. Jude’s feelings further illustrate the change in her character since she attempts to divorce herself from The Power of Motherhood.

“They all knew that Jude couldn’t look at Grace without feeling an overwhelming grief. Everything Grace did reminded Jude of her loss, and so she kept her distance from her granddaughter. It shamed Jude and embarrassed her, this weakness, but there was no way she could fix it. She’d tried. But in the past two years, she’d gotten better. She picked Grace up regularly from both kindergarten and the daycare she went to after school. It was only on the worst days, when Jude fell into that gray world, that she crawled into bed and forgot everything she had to do and everyone around her. Especially her granddaughter.”

As Jude continues to struggle with her grief, she finds facing Grace each day difficult and overwhelming. She knows what she’s doing is wrong but cannot correct or overcome it. This “gray world” that is separated from everything outside it, including picking Grace, up also reflects the time jump preceding Part 2; the reader is not party to this “gray world” or the “overwhelming grief” felt during Grace’s early upbringing.

“‘We could talk about Mia.’ ‘No,’ Jude said sharply. She’d learned a long time ago that talking about Mia only sharpened her pain. ‘You need to talk about her. You need to remember her and grieve.’ ‘I do nothing but grieve.’ ‘No. Your grief is an artery that’s been clamped off. If you don’t take that clamp off and let it flow, you’ll never heal.’ ‘So I won’t heal,’ Jude said tiredly, leaning back into the sofa.”

While Jude is willing to visit a psychiatrist, she is unwilling to open up about her feelings about losing Mia, even six years after her death. Hannah uses the metaphor of “an artery that’s been clamped off” to enhance the visceral nature of this description.

“‘You killed his sister,’ Jude said. ‘Yes,’ Lexi said, her mouth trembling. ‘And I have to live with that every day of my life. I did everything I could to make it up to you and Zach and Grace, but there is no making it up. I gave you my freedom and my daughter—and still you want more. Well, fuck you, Jude. You don’t get any more. Grace is my daughter. My Mia. And I want her back. My lawyer filed the petition today.’ As Lexi walked away, Jude just stood there, eyes stinging, throat tight, hearing Lexi’s voice say over and over again, my Mia.”

This passage occurs during the first conversation between Lexi and Jude since Lexi went to prison. It explores the novel’s theme of The Power of Motherhood. However, this moment is pivotal to Jude’s healing process because she realizes that she and Lexi share the same pain and suffering. She also realizes that Lexi losing Grace will be just as painful and preventable as Jude losing Mia, allowing Jude’s heart to open and heal. Hannah draws several parallels between Jude and Lexi throughout the novel.

“For some reason she’d never quite understood, hope was hardwired into her. Even in prison, when she’d stood in lines of women who wore blank, hopeless expressions, she had been unable to become one of them. Even Valium hadn’t helped to dim that small bright part of her. The problem was that she believed. She wasn’t sure what she believed in—was it God? goodness? herself? She had no answer to the question; she knew only that she owned this belief that if she did the right thing, if she always did her best and took responsibility for her mistakes and lived a moral life, she would succeed. She would not become like her mother.”

Lexi’s character development manifests in in how she overcomes her traumatic past and takes responsibility for herself and others. This passage also illustrates Lexi’s optimism, which Hannah uses to drive the arc of the plot and make Lexi more endearing because of her unshakable faith in herself.

“‘You were a great mom.’ Jude couldn’t look at him. ‘Once, maybe. Not anymore, though. I haven’t acted like your mom in a long time, and we both know it. I…lost that. I thought…’ She paused and forced herself to look at him again. ‘I blamed you. I did, even though I know I shouldn’t. And I blamed Lexi. And myself.’”

In this conversation with Zach, Jude finally admits that she is no longer the caring, involved mother she used to be. This admittance is a turning point for Jude which contributes to the emotional climax of the novel, She also admits that she blamed herself and others for Mia’s death. By acknowledging these truths, Jude starts the healing process and allows her family to reunite.

“‘I’ve been hard on Zach. I just…couldn’t look at him without remembering…’ ‘Remembering is okay, Jude.’ ‘Not the way I do it, Doc. It…breaks me.’ ‘Maybe you need to be broken a little before you can put yourself back together.’ ‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to put myself back together.’ ‘You will. You’re on your way, Jude.’ ‘What do I do next?’ ‘Follow your heart.’ Jude shivered at the idea of that. She’d worked so hard to shut down her emotions; the idea of opening them up again was terrifying. She didn’t know if she could do it. If she even wanted to.”

In this meeting between Jude and Dr. Bloom, Jude demonstrates that she’s finally willing to acknowledge and feel the emotions she’s been holding at bay for so long. Dr. Bloom’s advice initiates the falling action in the novel. Hannah uses Jude’s vulnerability to endear her to the reader and hence make her development more poignant and pronounced.

“I watched the kind of mother you became, and I was so proud of you. But I never said that. You wouldn’t have heard me anyway, although perhaps I want to think that. Either way, I didn’t say it. Then I saw you make the same mistake I did: I saw you stop loving Zach…and yourself. It broke my heart. I would have told you what you were doing wrong, but you were always so sure that I was weak and you were strong. So yes, Judith, you—of all people, you—should understand my mistakes. You should know why I treated you the way I did.”

A pivotal element of the novel’s resolution is the healing that occurs between Jude and Caroline. For the first time in many years, Jude finally feels a connection with her mother and realizes that her response to grief was the same as her mother’s when her husband died. This realization allows Jude to forgive her mother’s absence after her father’s death and heal her relationships with Grace, Lexi, Miles, and Zach.