Previous
Chapter 19: December 1956
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Lessons in Chemistry, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gender Inequality
Science vs. Religion
Overcoming Tragedy and Trauma
Family
Summary
Analysis
At four years old, Madeline is still too young for kindergarten, but Elizabeth puts her in school anyway because she needs to get back to work so she can make ends meet. Madeline, physically larger than most children her age, stands out because of her advanced abilities, especially when it comes to reading. Additionally, Madeline possesses a remarkable intuition when it comes to what other are thinking and feeling—even (and perhaps especially) adults.
Like Six-Thirty, Madeline’s intellectual capabilities far exceed what anyone her age should be able to do. As such, if anything, she appears too advanced for kindergarten and will appear out of place. In this way, she takes after her mother, who regularly outperforms her peers.
Themes
Elizabeth decides to return to Hastings to seek employment. She meets with Donatti, who appears relieved to see her and agrees to rehire her. Although Elizabeth is happy to have her old job back, Harriet thinks she should not have returned to a workplace that mistreated her and Calvin. Although Elizabeth does not know it, Donatti only rehired her because he knows he needs to please the abiogenesis donor, who is expecting results. Previously, when Donatti asked his staff if any of them had progress to report on abiogenesis, only Boryweitz had anything to say. However, Donatti can tell Boryweitz had help from outside because he cannot articulate his findings. Eventually, Boryweitz admits that he got help from Elizabeth.
Without Elizabeth, Donatti has had very little to work with. The few employees who have produced high-quality research have only done so because they have been paying visits to Elizabeth. Of course, Donatti will never thank Elizabeth for the work she did, nor publicly acknowledge her efforts. However, Elizabeth does not care about Donatti and his ego because she has more important things to care about: her daughter. Still, without Calvin, Hastings is likely to be a hostile environment for Elizabeth.
Themes
