Previous
Chapter 16
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Vanishing Half, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Loss, Memory, and Inheritance
Companionship, Support, and Independence
Class and Privilege
Summary
Analysis
Jude is at work as a teaching assistant in medical school when she receives a call from Desiree and learns that her grandmother has died. She goes home upset and takes comfort in Reese’s support, telling him the news as he stands shirtless in the kitchen (he’s always shirtless these days). Later, Jude calls Kennedy to tell her the news. Kennedy is as upset as she could be about the death of a grandmother she never met, but she tells Jude that she doesn’t intend to pass the news along to Stella—Kennedy insists that Stella would rather not know.
Kennedy’s decision not to tell her mother about Adele’s passing might seem somewhat unfair, since she herself resented her mother for keeping the truth from her for so long. At the same time, though, her decision shows a certain understanding of her mother’s desire to focus on the present instead of dwelling on the past. Knowing about Adele’s death would only make Stella wish she could go back and mend her relationship with her mother, but she never would have done such a thing anyway, since she’s so committed to her current life. As such, telling her about the death would do nothing but cause pain.
Themes
Jude asks Reese to come to the funeral with her. Ever since they moved to Minneapolis, Reese has been taking testosterone instead of buying steroids off the streets. Jude found a doctor willing to write him a prescription. He accompanies her to her grandmother’s funeral, giving her the support she needs. While he’s there, Desiree tells him that she sees him as a son and hopes he will someday give her grandchildren—she thinks he’d be a good father, and he says that he hopes she’s right. Not long after Adele’s funeral, Desiree will finally leave Mallard again. She and Early will move to Houston, Texas, where Early will work in a refinery and Desiree will work at a call center.
Arguably, the two most successful and healthy relationships in the book are the relationships that Jude and Desiree have with their romantic partners. In both relationships, each partner supports the other and doesn’t expect them to be anything other than themselves. At the same time, though, this isn’t necessarily to say that Stella’s relationship with Blake is unhealthy just because she’s passing as white—rather, it’s simply the case that their relationship is a bit more complicated because Stella can’t be open with her husband about her background.
Themes
During the feast after Adele’s funeral, everyone in town is eager to glimpse Jude, since the townspeople are astonished to hear that she—the dark-skinned girl they used to judge so harshly—is in medical school. But they don’t see her anywhere, since she and Reese slip out of the house and run down to the nearby river, where Reese tugs off his shirt, hardly able to recall a time when he didn’t want Jude to see him naked. Jude also takes off her funeral clothing and then, together, they jump into the river.
The novel ends with a sense of personal freedom and happiness, as both Jude and Reese rejoice in their young love. It’s clear that they each feel comfortable in their own skin for perhaps the first time in their lives, which is perhaps a testament to their relationship: they have shown each other love and support in a way that makes it easier for them to accept themselves for who they are.
Themes
