44 pages • 1 hour read
The Leftovers
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BetaPart 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Happy Holidays”
Chapter 8 Summary: “Dirtbags”
The Healing Hug Movement assigns Tom to escort Christine to Boston, where she will be taken in by supporters of Holy Wayne. They spend several weeks hitchhiking from San Francisco to Denver disguised as members of the Barefoot People, a cult born of the rapture that idealizes nomads, infrequent showering, walking barefoot, hitchhiking, and painting bullseyes on their foreheads so that “’the Creator will recognize’” (171) them. They stop at a bus terminal in Denver and plan to take a series of buses the rest of the way to Boston, as pregnant Christine no longer wants to hitchhike and camp. At the terminal, they are teased for their unconventional clothes and association with the Barefoot People by a solider on leave who is named Henning.
Tom and Christine pretend to be in a relationship, though their light teasing of each other only increases the sexual tension that Tom perceives between the two of them. He does not believe that Christine’s child is a savior, nor does he believe in Wayne’s cause anymore. He stays with Christine because he is in love with her. On the bus, Tom choses to sit across the aisle from Christine to give himself some distance, leaving a seat next to her open. He falls asleep and wakes to find Henning sitting next to Christine. Though Tom is initially hostile toward him, the two eventually fall into talking about Henning’s war experiences. They talk through the night, passing a bottle of liquor between them. By the next morning, Henning decides to abandon his role in the military and join the Barefoot People to avoid further involvement in war, misery, and violence.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Snowflakes and Candy Canes”
Kevin keeps himself on a routine each day to avoid falling back into the loneliness he experienced after he sold his business and retired early. His mayoral duties give him a sense of purpose and occupy the mornings, after which he spends the afternoon working out, has dinner with Jill and Aimee, and goes to the Carpe Diem.
One morning, at his office, Kevin reviews the lack of information on Jason Falzone, a watcher of the Guilty Remnant who was found dead near the Monument to the Departed. The Guilty Remnant is uncooperative in the homicide investigation, other than submitting a written statement that claims Falzone was a fanatic who “spoke frequently of his wish to die a martyr” (179). Kevin meets with Jill’s guidance counselor to discuss how to best help his daughter pass the year’s classes; afterward, he takes Jill to lunch at the local diner.
They discuss Jill’s plans for her life after high school. She no longer wishes to go away to college but plans on living at home and commuting to a local college so that Kevin isn’t living alone. They discuss Christmas and the presents Jill and Aimee would like from Kevin. Once they finish their meal, they walk home. Nora passes by on her bike, and they exchange a greeting. Three weeks after the Mapleton dance, Kevin still hasn’t called her, despite his saying that he would.
Chapter 10 Summary: “The Best Chair in the World”
Nora goes to the mall with her sister, Karen, to shop for Christmas presents. The trip is a challenge to herself to see if she is ready to return to socializing. Nora began spending Christmas away on vacation after losing her family, but she plans to stay in Mapleton this year, largely because she hopes that Kevin will reach out to her. As Karen shops, Nora forces herself to watch the families in the mall. She goes into one store called the Feel Better Store, where she is drawn to a reclining massage chair. As she tries it out, Nora realizes that “she could feel this good anytime she wanted” (197) if she bought it.
Chapter 11 Summary: “The Balzer Method”
On Christmas morning, Laurie and the other members of the Guilty Remnant watch a PowerPoint presentation that explains how meaningless Christmas and organized religion in general are. The Guilty Remnant supports “a lifestyle, not a religion” (208) for its members. The PowerPoint includes photos from which people who disappeared in the rapture are deleted. The slides then show Jason Falzone and Phil Crowther, two martyrs of the Guilty Remnant who were killed while on watch assignments. As part of their assignment for the day, Meg and Laurie must each visit their families and disrupt “the rituals of the holiday” (207) with their presence. They visit Gary’s house first; he confronts Meg with hostile words, but his new girlfriend, who is Meg’s cousin and former bridesmaid, tries to mediate the situation.
Kevin waits for Jill and Aimee to wake up on Christmas morning. He remembers an old friend from college, Evan Balzer, who had no family to spend Christmas with. Whenever Kevin expressed pity for Evan during the holidays, Evan responded that he simply pretends it is another day. Kevin uses what he calls the Balzer Method to get through the holidays without Laurie and Tom. The three of them open gifts and enjoy the morning together. Jill leaves a gift for Laurie under the tree in case she decides to come home. The girls leave to spend time with friends, so Kevin is alone when Laurie and Meg arrive. He invites them inside, makes small talk, and offers them food, which they eat eagerly but silently. After they leave, Kevin runs after them and hands Laurie Jill’s Christmas present for her, an ordinary lighter for the cigarettes that Laurie is required to smoke as a member of the Guilty Remnant: “It was an object of treasure, full of sentimental value” (224). Thus, Laurie has no choice but to drop it down a storm drain in adherence with the Guilty Remnant’s rules.
Nora wakes up on Christmas morning unable to stop thinking of her children. She calls her sister and cancels their breakfast plans, promising to meet her later at their mother’s house. She leaves for a long bike ride to occupy her mind; then she leaves a voicemail for her sister, feigning sickness. Next, she calls Kevin and invites him to go to Florida in two days.
Part 3 Analysis
The novel’s discussion of the necessity of roles, ritual, and community structure continues in these chapters, particularly in the Guilty Remnant’s increasing number of martyrs. The need to have specific figures on whom to place interest, pity, and the need for large-scale moral reform reflects Tom’s initial struggle to conceptualize the rapture’s impact because the media were unable to provide a consistent image that was representative of the tragedy. The Guilty Remnant attempts to fill this gap through its martyrs, like Falzone, and its practice of cutting out the departed from slideshow photographs (201). As Laurie spends more time in the Guilty Remnant, the gaps in its credo become clearer to her. The Guilty Remnant markets itself as a lifestyle more than a religion, yet the group has a particular distaste for Christmas and its religious connotations. Such inconsistencies point to the Guilty Remnant as an underdeveloped, unreliable, and suspect organization; its intent is chiefly to draw more people into the movement, rather than to form a movement with a productive purpose.
Still, Laurie fully accepts her life as part of the Guilty Remnant. In throwing Jill’s Christmas present down a storm gutter, Laurie makes the final decision to align her life fully with the group and forget her old life, her family, and her friends. That the rapture remains unexplained introduces a threatening uncertainty into the lives of those characters who do not chose to actively move on with their lives. This uncertainty contributes to Laurie’s dependency on her new structured and austere lifestyle, so much so that the option to leave and seek a different path in life is impossible to her. In surrendering to the Guilty Remnant, Laurie releases herself from all societal and relational obligations; this can be read as a symbolic defense mechanism that protects her from any emotional pain that a possible second rapture might cause for her.
Again, Nora’s character serves as a complement to Laurie’s, especially as Nora and Kevin establish an interest in one another. While Laurie seeks to withdraw from society, Nora pushes herself to practice socializing (188); she is testing whether she can resume her role in Mapleton’s community. She focuses on confronting her grief by forcing herself into the situations that make her most uncomfortable, such as shopping at the mall with her sister. Nora represents the conscious choices each person must make in moving forward through the grieving process. When considering buying the massage chair, she notes how easy it would be to “feel this good anytime she wanted” (197). This form of grief consolation is painful to Nora; only she can make the decision to move forward and try to feel good about her life again, but this implies that she would be making the choice to leave her family in the past.
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