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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
Avery and Wilson revisit their job offer to Elizabeth and discuss plans to improve the laboratory. During the conversation, Wilson offhandedly brings up Calvin Evans’s unfinished work. This triggers Elizabeth to connect the dots between the wealthy donor at Calvin’s boys home and the man whom Calvin suspected in his diaries to be his father. Elizabeth becomes defensive, suspecting that Wilson is a blood relative of Calvin’s who intends to take over Calvin’s research. However, the situation takes an unexpected turn when Avery requests a private conversation with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s defensive reaction upon hearing Wilson bring up Calvin’s unfinished work is understandable given her protective stance over Calvin's legacy and her suspicions about Wilson’s intentions. Her fear that a blood relative might be trying to usurp Calvin's research comes from what she has read about Calvin’s past. However, Avery’s demeanor and request for a private conversation implies there is still much Elizabeth does not know.
Themes
In their private discussion, Elizabeth confronts Avery about the connections between Wilson, Calvin, and All Saints. Avery responds with a heart-wrenching story about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and is sent to a Catholic home for unwed mothers. Despite pressure to give up her child, she refuses. During a traumatic labor, she is left alone, sedated by a doctor, and then falsely told her baby was stillborn. A decade later, a nurse from the home reveals the truth: her son was actually adopted, but after his adoptive family tragically died, he was sent to a boys home in Iowa. Avery reveals she is that girl and thus Calvin’s biological mother, who has been searching for her son ever since.
Avery’s story is a sorrowful recounting of the practice of the time when medical professionals often coerced unwed mothers into giving up their children. The revelation that Avery is actually Calvin’s biological mother puts Elizabeth in the strange position of knowing more about Calvin’s parentage than he ever knew himself. This revelation reframes the narrative, shifting the perspective on Avery’s intentions behind the offer to Elizabeth. It also provides closure to the mystery surrounding Calvin’s parentage and the identity of the “fairy godmother” figure who had been making donations in his name.
Themes
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