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Chapter 38
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Walk Two Moons, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Judgment, Perspective, and Storytelling
Parents, Children, and Growing Up
Grief
Nature
Summary
Analysis
Phoebe calls Sal in the morning and begs her to come over. She says she needs a witness, and she hasn’t told Mr. Winterbottom what she saw. Phoebe says that Mr. Winterbottom and Prudence have been cleaning the house since last night—and this morning, her father decided to mess some things up so Mrs. Winterbottom won’t think the family can function without her. Sal doesn’t want to go over, but she feels bad for running away yesterday, so she agrees.
Because Phoebe doesn’t know anything about Momma, she’s unable to consider why Sal might not want to witness her reunion with Mrs. Winterbottom tomorrow. It’s important to Mr. Winterbottom to show his wife that she’s needed, wanted, and appreciated, so that she’ll realize her family needs her to come home.
Themes
Sal finds Mr. Winterbottom, Phoebe, and Prudence sitting around, doing nothing. Mr. Winterbottom is a nervous wreck; he jumps up and sits down, and he changes his shirt twice. Finally, a taxi pulls up. Mr. Winterbottom runs to the kitchen, and Phoebe follows. Sal follows Phoebe, and Prudence goes to answer the door. From the kitchen, they hear Mrs. Winterbottom introduce Prudence to Mike. Mr. Winterbottom goes red and tells Phoebe she shouldn’t be around for this, but he allows the girls to follow him into the living room.
Mr. Winterbottom seems to assume that Mike is Mrs. Winterbottom’s lover; this is why he gets angry when he hears Mrs. Winterbottom introduce Mike to Prudence. At this point, it’s impossible to tell whether Mr. Winterbottom is correct in this assumption or not—the girls did see Mrs. Winterbottom kiss Mike, after all. Trying to forbid Phoebe from meeting Mike and her mother shows that Mr. Winterbottom fears that Phoebe won’t be able to handle this situation maturely.
Themes
Phoebe almost faints for two reasons. Mrs. Winterbottom now has short hair and is stylish, with makeup and earrings. And second, Mike Bickle is standing in the living room. Sal briefly wonders if Mike did kidnap Mrs. Winterbottom, but she remembers how happy Mrs. Winterbottom looked yesterday. For that matter, Mrs. Winterbottom doesn’t look afraid of Mike—she looks afraid of Mr. Winterbottom. Sal can tell Phoebe’s heart is breaking as Mrs. Winterbottom hugs Phoebe. Then, Mr. Winterbottom asks his wife to explain. He doesn’t hug her back when she puts her arms around him, and Sal wonders if Mrs. Winterbottom is really in love with Mike. He seems way too young.
Phoebe has made both Mrs. Winterbottom and Mike into one-dimensional caricatures in her mind. Mrs. Winterbottom exists in Phoebe’s mind as just her mother, and Mike exists as a lunatic who’s somehow involved in her mother’s disappearance. But seeing them right in front of her, looking comfortable together, forces Phoebe to toss out these perceptions and make some new ones. Again, Mrs. Winterbottom’s short hair signifies that she’s moved on from just identifying as a wife and mother. Now, she’s taking charge of her own identity.
Themes
Mrs. Winterbottom sits down and starts to cry. She says things that don’t make sense about being respectable, about Mr. Winterbottom not forgiving her, and she says she has a secret that Mr. Winterbottom might not forgive her for. Finally, Mrs. Winterbottom says that Mike is her son. She had him before she met Mr. Winterbottom and had to give him up for adoption. Now, she knows Mr. Winterbottom won’t think she’s “respectable.” Mr. Winterbottom swears as Mrs. Winterbottom explains that Mike found her. At first, she was frightened, but she and Mike have been talking. Mr. Winterbottom interrupts to ask if she’s going to leave again. Mrs. Winterbottom flinches but says she’ll only leave if Mr. Winterbottom wants her to—she’s “unrespectable.”
Mrs. Winterbottom fears that revealing Mike is her son is going to damage her reputation in her husband’s eyes. Admitting that she had Mike and gave him up for adoption is likely an admission that she had a baby out of wedlock, possibly as a very young woman—things that she doesn’t expect her upstanding, stoic husband to approve of. With this, Mrs. Winterbottom essentially reveals that she’s been trying to embody the perfect housewife for so many years to try and make up for her perceived fall from grace years ago—but she can’t continue this façade anymore.
Themes
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Mr. Winterbottom says he’s not worried about respectability; it concerns him more that Mrs. Winterbottom didn’t feel like she could tell him anything about this. Mike gets up and says he knew this wouldn’t work, but Mr. Winterbottom says he has nothing against Mike. He just doesn’t know Mike, or his wife.
Perhaps surprisingly for Mrs. Winterbottom, Mr. Winterbottom suggests here that he prizes honesty over “respectability.” He’d rather know the truth about his wife and who she is than have her hide the embarrassing parts of her past from him.
Themes
Sal wishes she weren’t here, and she feels sad for Phoebe’s family and for herself. Mr. Winterbottom says they all need to sit down and talk. Then, he shakes Mike’s hand and says he’s always thought a son would be nice. Sal suggests she leave, and Mrs. Winterbottom asks Phoebe if she’s angry. Phoebe says she is and drags Sal to the door. The girls step outside just as Mrs. Partridge sets an envelope down on the stoop.
Sal realizes that the Winterbottoms are going to have to work hard to move on from the events of the last week and from Mrs. Winterbottom’s revelations. But she’s also sad that Phoebe’s mother came back when Momma did not. While Sal could empathize with Phoebe during Mrs. Winterbottom’s week away, it’s much harder to do so now that Phoebe is getting exactly what Sal wanted. Meanwhile, the reveal that Mrs. Partridge is the one who’s been leaving the notes again challenges Sal and Phoebe’s presumptions—there’s more to Mrs. Partridge than they thought.
Themes
