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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Medicine Walk, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fathers and Sons
Nature and the Land
Identity and Heritage
Memory and Story
Love, Loss, and Grief
Summary
Analysis
Back beside the fire, his father’s condition worsens. Each time he vomits, he suffers terrible pain. After nightfall, the only thing the kid can do to keep his father warm is to lay beside him and hold him close. When the kid falls asleep, he dreams of a man and woman sitting together on a blanket, talking quietly. In the dream, Frank is on a porch at sunset. He sees a woman off in the fields, waving at him with both arms. At first, the kid thinks she is waving at him. Then he sees his father running across the field toward her.
The kid hears his father die with a small breath and a jolt. As he wakes up, he feels the heavy silence, and he’s afraid to break it. Finally, he gets up and builds up the fire. Then he reaches out and touches his father’s face, closing his eyes and feeling his own face at the same time. As he closes his father’s eyes, he says, “Shh. Hush,” though he doesn’t know why.
After Eldon dies, Frank feels for some resemblance between his father’s face and his own. As he closes his father’s eyes, Frank seems to tell Eldon that he’s done telling his story and can now rest at last.
Themes
