Old God’s Time: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

Having uncovered his memories and told his story to himself, Tom feels a burden lifted off of him. He eats less than usual, fixes up his flat, and worries little about his involvement in the case. He enjoys the summer, especially reveling in the beauty of Mr. Tomelty’s garden. His greatest source of enjoyment, however, is swimming. Using the swim trunks he bought back in late winter, he swims in the sea right below the castle. Although he’s aging, when he’s in the water, he feels a deep connection to the body and swims with an immense strength.

Returning from a swim, Tom sees a man he doesn’t recognize enter the building. His presence puts Tom on alert, and he tries to remember where Jesse would be at this time of day. He goes back to his flat and gets dressed, then he goes on lookout. He goes to check the main house and initially doesn’t hear anything, but he then hears crying and spots Jesse being abducted in a car. Tom goes out to run after him. The car gets caught up in traffic, and Ms. McNulty, on her way home from work, catches up to it. Her husband strikes Ms. McNulty unconscious and drags Jesse out of the car, leading him towards Coliemore Harbour.

Tom checks on Ms. McNulty, but he can’t ascertain her condition. He asks some bystanders to call for help and follows Jesse’s abductor. On the beach, he spots Mrs. Tomelty’s unicorn. The man has put Jesse onto a small boat, which he rows into the channel. Tom, not seeing another boat, runs back home and enters into Ronnie’s flat. He goes to the gun and looks through the scope, where he sees that the man and Jesse have reached the channel’s island. Tom shoots the man dead and returns to his flat, where he watches the boy get rescued by a lifeboat. He feels sadness that Jesse will live with the trauma of seeing his father die, but he feels satisfied that he fulfilled his promise to Ms. McNulty and redeemed himself by saving Jesse, even if it results in him being arrested for murder.

That night, Tom swims far out into the channel. Floating in the sea, he’s overwhelmed with everything that he’s loved about his life. He knows there’s a whirlpool south of the island, and he resolves to reach it. As he swims towards it, he thinks of both the joys and miseries of his life, which he feels he owes to the whirlpool. As he enters the whirlpool, he wakes up in bed, hearing Kol Nidrei next door. Dawn comes through his window. He sees June sitting at the edge of his bed in a summer dress, and the room gradually brightens. Tom, overwhelmed with joy, reaches out to touch her hand. Touching her fingers, he feels like he did the first moment he met her, but also feels that he knows everything there is to know about her.