Previous
Crossing: Corner of Hornsey Lane
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in NW, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class Identity and Social Mobility
Geography and Human Connection
Sex and Relationships
Altruism
Summary
Analysis
Natalie reaches her destination: Hornsey Lane. There’s a bridge but no people around. She tells Nathan to go home. She steps onto a ledge, and it becomes clear that she intends to jump off the bridge. Nathan keeps calling out to her. Natalie feels like a dramatic break is the only way to deal with all the shame that keeps following her. Still, Natalie feels that she can’t do it. Nathan encourages her to come down, and she does.
Natalie’s suicidal actions in this passage represent the culmination of all the worries and stress she has felt obligated to hide from the rest of the world. She has been chasing the impossible goal of trying to be liked by everyone, and now she feels that her only option is to give up entirely.
Themes
Natalie is shaking and doesn’t know how to feel. Nathan says he’s got to keep moving and asks if Natalie is coming with him or not. She says goodbye, and they part ways. A night bus comes by, but Natalie doesn’t have the money for it.
Although Nathan may have played some role in the end of Felix’s life, he plays an even clearer role in saving Natalie’s life, once again emphasizing how people can be morally complex.
Themes
