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Chapter 27
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Great Alone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma and Violence
Paranoia and the Vietnam War
Isolation
Family and Community
Death and Grief
Coming of Age
Summary
Analysis
Not long after Leni’s graduation, Cora comes down with pneumonia. She goes to the hospital for treatment, takes a series of tests, and discovers that she has stage four lung cancer, likely a result of her persistent cigarette smoking. Cora is terrified of dying, not for her own sake, but for Leni’s. Cora plans to start chemotherapy, but she doesn’t think that she will live through it.
Cora worries that even after her death, Leni will still have to live with the consequences of her mother’s actions. She doesn’t want Leni to have to raise MJ on her own, without a loving community to help her.
Themes
The following summer, Leni and the Gollihers are forced to watch as cancer eats away at Cora. On her deathbed, Cora reminisces with Leni about their time in Alaska and tells her that her father loved her. She also gives Leni a note, which turns out to be a signed confession for Ernt’s murder. She tells her daughter, “It’s time, Leni. You’ve lived my life, baby girl. Time to live your own.” Two days later, Cora dies. Just before her death, Leni tells her, “You can go.” Cora uses her last words to tell Leni that she loves her.
Although her cancer ultimately kills her, Cora finds a way to die peacefully. By handing Leni the signed confession, she gives Leni her old life back. Leni will get to live in the place that she loves, this time free of Ernt. She will also be able to introduce Matthew to his son. Although Cora dies still regretting the past, she at least has a renewed hope for Leni’s future.
Themes
