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Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Women, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma, Healing, and the Vietnam War
Women’s Experiences and Solidarity
Heroism, Honor, and Sacrifice
Propaganda vs. Truth
Shame, Pride, and Moral Ambiguity
Summary
Analysis
After Rye dies, Frankie sinks into a depression, mostly staying in bed with occasional bursts of drinking and sleepwalking. Mom’s efforts to help have no effect. One day, Frankie wakes to a song she remembers from Vietnam and finds Barb and Ethel at her bedside. Barb called the house after she didn’t hear back from Frankie after their last conversation, and Mom filled her in. Now, they are here to pull her of her despair. Skeptical, Frankie gets dressed. Barb and Ethel lead her outside to the beach, where a cooler, radio, and chairs are waiting. The music takes Frankie back to Vietnam. She holds Barb and Ethel’s hands, staring out at the ocean.
Losing Rye decimates all of Frankie’s tried-and-true coping mechanisms. Mom’s attempts to help are well-meaning but ineffectual. It is worth noting that, though Barb initially reaches out, Mom understands Frankie enough to know that she needs her friends. That Barb and Ethel rallied to support Frankie speaks to their deep sisterly bond. On the beach, they have even recreated a scene from their time in Vietnam to ease Frankie into a mindset where she is capable and can cope.
Themes
Frankie asks aloud how Rye could have died without her sensing it. There is no good answer. Ethel says Frankie has to start a life of her own. Barb mentions a Vietnam Veterans Against the War group as an avenue to channel Frankie's anger. They insist she can survive this. Frankie cannot imagine finding happiness again. She tells them about her parents’ shame. Barb and Ethel ask her what she has left, and Frankie considers the men (Finley, Jamie, and Rye) who shaped her and realizes they “couldn’t be everything.” At her core, she is a nurse who saves lives, and maybe that can sustain her. Frankie thanks her friends but knows she will ultimately have to save herself.
While Ethel and Barb essentially give Frankie the same advice as Mom—to rally and move on with her life—their delivery is more compassionate and draws on their shared experiences of returning from Vietnam. Barb’s mention of the VVAW suggest she shares Frankie’s anger at what they’ve experienced, and it suggests that Frankie can do something meaningful with her anger instead of lashing out at her parents. Frankie ultimately realizes that she is still prioritizing men in the story of her own life. This epiphany inspires her to reignite her confidence and passion by pursuing nursing.
Themes
Frankie spends Ethel and Barb’s visit reminiscing and showing them her hometown. When they leave, she searches the San Diego want ads and types up a resume. Her first interview is at a hospital on the mainland. The scents of disinfectant and alcohol are strangely comforting. The director of nursing, Delores Smart, is impressed with Frankie’s grades but laments her apparent lack of official surgical experience. She asks if Frankie can follow directions, and Frankie confirms that her military training demanded it. Mrs. Smart hires Frankie on a probationary basis for the night shift.
Not only do Frankie’s friends revive her spirit, they meet her need for connection by expressing curiosity about her hometown. Likely because of the shame associated with military service in Vietnam, the director of nursing dismisses Frankie’s surgical experience there as illegitimate. While it frustrates Frankie to have her skills go unrecognized, she takes the job in the hopes it will help her life progress.
Themes
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On her first shift, Frankie wears a starched white uniform. Mrs. Henderson, the charge nurse, informs her she’ll mostly help patients use the restroom and man the phone, ignoring Frankie’s claims of experience. Frankie swallows her anger, having been prepared for this treatment by Ethel and Barb. She writes to Ethel about the job and her frustrations with being treated like “a candy striper.” Nevertheless, she intends to stick with it. Another night, Frankie wakes from another dream of helicopter explosions. The nightmares and mood swings are random and sudden. Over coffee, Mom remarks that Frankie’s work shifts aren’t improving her sleep schedule. Frankie can sense her worry.
Frankie’s hospital job differs vastly from her work in Vietnam. While Ethel and Barb faced similar professional dismissal in their post-Vietnam job hunts, the experience is still infuriating and demeaning. Though Frankie’s new job provides structure and some purpose, it does not lessen her traumatic Vietnam flashbacks, showing that Frankie needs more or different support. Mom’s worry indicates she is watching Frankie closely even if she is not doing much to help.
Themes
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One night, a few weeks in, Frankie arrives at work. Her superiors still won’t let her so much as start an IV. An elderly man approaches the nurse’s station and asks for help. His wife is having trouble breathing. Frankie decides not to call Mrs. Henderson as directed and handle the patient herself. The husband tells Frankie his wife has lung cancer. As a high school teacher, she protested alongside her students to get them access to college preparation courses. Holding the woman’s hand, Frankie thinks of all the hands she held in Vietnam and speaks to the woman with gentle compassion.
Though Frankie hopes her competence will eventually earn her more nursing duties, either her status as a woman or a Vietnam veteran keeps her superiors from acknowledging her skills. In comforting her cancer patient, Frankie seems to access the compassionate care which was so necessary in Vietnam, and this at least makes her feel useful.
Themes
