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Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Old God’s Time, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory
Grief and Ghosts
Abuse of Institutional Power
Personal Trauma vs. Collective Trauma
Summary
Analysis
The weather turns to summer little by little. Wilson and O’Casey visit Tom again to tell him that his blood did not match the blood on the clothing in evidence, and that while it is still possible that he might be charged, it’s unlikely. Tom knows that the press would love to get wind of such a story, and he also knows that Wilson and O’Casey would leak it themselves if they felt it would benefit the case. However, he does not hold this against them, as he knows what it’s like to badly want to resolve a case. Tom feels little relief over his likely exoneration and is more concerned with the wellbeing of Ms. McNulty. As Wilson and O’Casey leave, the latter man hugs Tom in a way that feels to Tom like a farewell.
The coming of summer, a season that Tom loves, signifies the end of his difficult time with the case as he finds out he is unlikely to be charged. It is notable that Tom is relatively unconcerned with the outcome; this shows his lack of concern for his own wellbeing, particularly compared to Ms. McNulty’s. But it is also a broader indicator of how the outcome of the case is largely irrelevant to Tom, since he has no regrets about how he handled things to avenge June’s abuse.
Themes
After their departure, Tom thinks about losing his family and realizes that he’s begun to feel a certain freedom from his grief. For the first time, he allows himself to recall the circumstances of June’s death, which he had locked away in his memory for years. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, June travelled to a field on the edge of town, where she set herself on fire and wasn’t found until it was too late. Tom recalls her funeral, where June was buried in a casket she would’ve hated. Winnie, in college, was stoic and withdrawn, while Joe, a high-schooler, was in shock. He recalls how the grief truly set in days later as he considered June’s things, such as her set of china, her bed, and—most significantly—the knife she used to kill Matthews, which still resided in their kitchen.
The revelation of June’s shocking suicide recontextualizes Tom’s grief: rather than simply losing June, he lost her in a sudden and traumatic way that was likely influenced by the abuse she suffered as a child. This shows how the trauma June suffered ultimately radiated out to affect her family, who were devastated by her suicide. The method of June’s death is also significant: she completely destroys her body, which Matthews violated when he abused her.
Themes
