Misery: Part 1, Chapters 14-28 Summary & Analysis

Annie is gone for 51 hours, which Paul tracks in pen on his arm. His pain, hunger, and thirst race for dominance, with each taking their turn in the lead. Additionally, he begins to go into withdrawal, which he calls “Junkie’s Revenge” in his imagined horse race. The locked door makes getting out of bed pointless. Paul looks at his shattered legs for the first time, and he thinks he may never walk again. Annie has splinted them with steel rods, but they are crooked, and his left knee seems nonexistent. On the second day, Paul is driven by extreme thirst to drink his own urine. He wonders if Annie’s grief over Misery drove her to suicide. Paul wishes for death.

When Annie finally returns, she is wearing a nice dress and hat. Paul wonders if she wore this outfit on the stand in Denver. She gives him water. Paul begs for medication, but Annie insists he listen to her first. She tells Paul she has thought (though she calls her thoughts “muddy”) and prayed to God. That Paul is still alive is proof that God sent Annie to “shew him the way he must go.” Annie brings a charcoal grill and the manuscript of Fast Cars into Paul’s room, demanding he burn it before she gives him his medication. Bitterly, Paul thinks of how easily he could have made a copy of the novel. He thinks of Annie as a natural disaster.

Annie insists the manuscript is filthy and no good. Paul insults her, but Annie—surprisingly—remains calm. She tempts him with four Novril, which she will give him once he burns the book. Paul calls her the devil. She compares herself to a mother acting in a child’s best interest, despite their outrage. Paul weighs his 190,000 words against the pills, arguing with himself. Part of him does not feel the book is worth dying for, while another part cites the amount of time and effort he invested in the manuscript. Annie refuses to burn the manuscript herself, saying Paul must do it of his own free will. Paul laughs, and her anger seems to return. She leaves the room.

Annie returns an hour later. Paul takes the matches and burns the manuscript’s title page. He remembers beginning to write the novel two years earlier, recalling the relief and joy he felt starting a new project. Annie insists Paul may do as he chooses, and he burns the book. She makes him burn several single pages before putting the rest into the grill. Annie is alarmed by the fire’s size, and she runs for water. Having never seen Annie frightened, Paul enjoys the sight. She douses the fire, leaving a soggy mess in the grill. Annie gives Paul his medication. Swallowing the pills, he thinks “I’m going to kill her.”

Paul wakes to find himself sitting up. Still medicated, he tries to sleep again, but Annie pulls his earlobes, insisting he eat. After one spoonful of soup, Paul’s hunger returns, and he eats. He realizes Annie has moved him to a wheelchair, with his legs propped up in front of him. Her strength shocks him. Annie intends to change his sheets—and him. He thanks Annie, but privately fantasizes about killing her. Later, Paul’s pain returns, exacerbated by the act of sitting. He screams for Annie, who brings the Novril. She has bought him two presents in town, one of which is the wheelchair. She will show him the other tomorrow.

Paul tries to deduce how far Annie’s house is from her neighbors—the Roydmans—and downtown Sidewinder. He imagines a police officer finding his Camaro and arriving to question Annie. Given Paul’s “quasi-celebrity” status, he concludes it is unlikely his car has already been found, since—to his knowledge—no search is underway. Paul imagines a snow plow driving past the scene of his crash, burying the Camaro in deep snow. Despite his detailed rumination, he knows that it is all guesswork. Nevertheless, Paul is confident that Annie is psychotic (but not stupid). That she never considered another copy of Fast Cars might exist shows that her inflated ego has trouble accepting that circumstances might be outside her control.

Continuing his amateur psychoanalysis, Paul realizes that, if his car is found and an officer arrives at Annie’s house, the possibility of discovery becomes a reality. Annie’s crimes will be evident—she has kidnapped Paul and given him illicit medication. Additionally, she has already come under some police scrutiny in the past (based on her appearance in court). Paul reasons that Annie—unstable and driven to panic—will certainly kill her “rare [African] bird” rather than risk imprisonment. He concludes that, when spring comes, the authorities will discover his car and Annie will be compelled to murder him. Contemplating his life’s certain expiration date, Paul is unable to sleep.

The next day, Annie brings Paul an old Royal typewriter. Paul feels the heavy machine is grinning at him. Annie takes offense when he calls it an antique, but Paul smooths it over. He is getting better at reading her cyclic moods. Annie bought the typewriter secondhand, and it has a missing n key. Paul quips there are two ns in his favorite nurse’s name, making Annie blush. She has sawed a board to fit over the wheelchair’s arms, so Paul can write sitting up. She has also bought a package of Corrasable Bond—Paul’s least favorite writing paper, which constantly smears. Annie informs Paul that these supplies will help him write his best novel yet—Misery’s Return. 

Misery’s Return will be Annie’s payment for nursing Paul back to health. Despite his protests that Misery is dead, Paul is begrudgingly imagining bringing her back. He asks if Annie will let him go when the novel is finished. Though she insists Paul is not a prisoner, Annie agrees. Annie is uninterested in the mechanics of Paul’s writing, indicating that she is so fully convinced of the story’s reality, she does not view it as fiction at all. She talks about binding Misery’s Return herself, and she blows him a kiss before leaving. Paul considers the typewriter an instrument of torture. He knows Annie was lying about letting him go. Despite his lack of desire to write Annie’s novel, he knows he will do it in order to survive.

Later, Annie brings Paul a hearty meal in preparation for going back to work. She slides him into the wheelchair, and Paul is again alarmed by her strength. Paul asks Annie to turn the grinning typewriter toward the wall because it unsettles him, but she claims it is a writer’s superstition. That night, he dreams Annie is in an Arabian court, telling stories on a magic carpet. The next day, an ecstatic Annie brings him breakfast. Paul realizes that he is the real Scheherazade, and he hopes that he can write a story good enough and long enough to save his own life. The typewriter grins at him, casting doubt on this hope.

Annie rolls Paul’s wheelchair to the window for the first time. He takes in the sight of Annie’s property, isolated by forest and mountains. The neat red barn surprises him, as he thought it might be rundown, with only Annie caring for it. Bringing his breakfast, Annie remarks that she keeps the barn nice to keep up appearances. Paul notes her use of made-up phrases like “oogiest” and “dirty birdie.” Annie points out that the icicles are already melting, and Paul thinks of his Camaro emerging from the snow. Paul imagines the Roydmans finding his car, and he thinks of his shortening lifespan. Annie is extremely excited for Paul to start writing.