46 pages • 1-hour read
Death Row
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Chapter 13-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of incarceration, illness/death, and graphic violence.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Before”
Before going to dinner with Kinsey, Talia leaves a pot of spaghetti and meatballs on the stove for Noel, texting him to tell him about her plans. Talia reasons that Noel will be late getting home, and therefore, she needs to be out until at least nine, or until the police call to inform her about the explosion.
Talia is distracted at dinner, wondering why Noel would betray her like this when Talia loved him so much. Her phone buzzes, but she does not pick it up. Kinsey asks her if she is okay, and before she can respond, an older woman in her seventies approaches their table, calling Talia’s name.
The woman introduces herself as Lisbeth Sharp, Noel’s colleague, who has been working closely with him on his experiments. She says that she recognized Talia from the photo of her on Noel’s desk, and that Noel talks about her at work constantly. She apologizes for keeping Noel so many late nights at work, but promises that things are going to get better soon and that she even told him to go home early tonight. As Lisbeth walks away, Talia is struck by the fact that Lisbeth smells strongly of the same perfume she has been smelling on Noel for weeks.
With horror, Talia realizes her mistake and immediately rushes to her phone, where a text from Noel sits unread, telling her that he is going to be home soon. Talia calls Noel multiple times, but it goes straight to voicemail. Talia apologizes to Kinsey and rushes out of the restaurant to try and make it home before Noel does.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Present Day”
Talia sits across from Father Decker, dressed in his clerical garb. Sitting in such close proximity to him only further convinces her that this person is actually Noel. Wishing she could reach out and hug him like she has in her dreams, Talia calls him “Noel,” but the chaplain does not hear her. She starts at hearing his voice, which is different from Noel’s, sounding like that of an older man.
Talia refers to the man as “Noel” again, and Father Decker corrects her this time, which confuses Talia. She wonders whether he is pretending not to know her because of what she did to him. As Father Decker begins to recite the last rites, Talia launches into a desperate plea for him to save her life, telling him that she is to be executed tomorrow and begging him to listen to her. Father Decker continues reciting his prayer, standing up when he finishes and only then locking eyes with Talia.
In a voice that now sounds like Noel’s, he tells her that he loves her so much. Rhea calls out that visiting time is over and grabs Talia, who fights against the guard, crying out that Father Decker is really her husband. Rhea gives Talia a look of pity, and Talia knows that no one will believe her.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Present Day”
The day of Talia’s execution arrives, and Talia explains the process by which the state will end her life. She explains the three medications, stating that lethal injection is most often used now because it is considered “more humane” (57), but Talia has heard that it is more akin to 15 minutes of torture as the cocktail of drugs works to stop Talia’s heart.
Talia showers and dresses, but does not get to enjoy her last meal as it was not delivered. As she waits to be called, all she can think about is seeing Noel the day before, still not quite comprehending that he did nothing to stay her execution and save her.
Talia reflects on her life choices that brought her here, reasoning that her father’s infidelity was the beginning of her trust and jealousy issues. She takes responsibility for her jealousy and the choice she made to leave the gas running at the house, calling it a “terrible thing to do” (58). Rhea enters her cell and offers to brush Talia’s hair for her in a final act of kindness.
Rhea shackles Talia one final time and leads her out to the execution room. The executioner, a thin man in scrubs, greets her and quickly walks her through the process of what is going to happen. When Talia is seated, he injects the first drug, a sedative, and her eyes begin to drift shut. She mutters multiple times, “I didn’t do it” (59), as the drugs course through her system and looks over to the executioner, who states, “[W]e know” (60).
Chapter 16 Summary: “Before”
Driving home to Noel, Talia calls him nearly 20 times, but each call goes unanswered. She leaves frantic voicemails instructing him to leave the stove off and to call the fire department. As she nears their home, a fire truck speeds past her, going in the direction of her house, which only further fuels her anxiety.
Suddenly, a call from Noel comes through on her phone, and he tells her that he stopped for fast food on the way home from work. He tells her that he did not turn on the stove, but he did call the fire department after he got her messages. He tells her to enjoy her night out and that when she gets home, he has a surprise for her: a necklace he bought her as a way to thank her for her support while things were so busy at his job.
Relief and tears flood Talia as she begins to tell Noel how much she loves him, but her tears prevent her from seeing the stop sign ahead of her. Before she can tell Noel that she will be home soon, a truck slams into Talia’s car.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Present Day”
Talia hears a male voice, which sounds like Bowman’s, saying that they are doing the right thing and that it is important to know “when to let go” (64). Talia tries to open her eyes, but she cannot, presumably because of the sedative the executioner injected. The now-familiar beeping has also returned and is sounding off loudly in Talia’s ears, seemingly directly above her head.
Noel’s voice now calls out that it is still too soon and that even though it has been a month, “she might still wake up. It’s possible, isn’t it, Dr. Bowman?” (64). Confused, Talia wonders why Noel has been admitted to the execution room and why he is referring to Bowman as “Dr. Bowman.” Bowman apologizes, telling Noel that the chances of Talia waking up again are slim because she has not made any attempts to breathe on her own since the accident. At this, Talia tries to open her mouth to breathe but realizes there is a tube shoved down her throat, rubbing it raw.
Noel tries to protest again, but Dr. Bowman reminds him of the advanced directive that Talia signed, stating that she did not want to be kept alive like this. Bowman tells Noel that Father Decker visited the day before to read Talia her last rites, and Talia feels Noel’s hand gripping hers. She tries and fails to squeeze his hand to let him know that she is there, but her hand does not respond.
Dr. Bowman states that nurse Rhea washed Talia up and that she is going to inject a sedative into her IV before they turn off the ventilator. Rhea’s voice assures Noel that the process will be quick and that Talia will feel no pain. Noel squeezes Talia’s hand tighter, pleading with her to wake up. Dr. Bowman turns off the ventilator, and Talia drifts off.
Epilogue Summary
A horn blares loudly in Talia’s ears as she realizes that the truck nearly slammed into her. She drives the rest of the way home extra carefully, realizing that she could have easily been killed just now. As she drives home, Talia tries to shake off the strange sensation enveloping her that she just emerged from some kind of memory or dream.
When she arrives home, Noel is sitting on the front porch waiting for her. At seeing him, Talia cannot believe how close she came to doing something unforgivable to the man she loves. He tells her that the firefighters fixed the gas and that they should sit outside for a bit to let the house air out. Talia can hear the fire alarm blaring inside. Noel asks if she is okay because she looks shaken, and Talia explains that she had a weird day and was almost hit by a truck.
She assures him that she is okay but that she had a “life flashing before [her] eyes moment” (67) in which she had been in a coma and kept having dreams about Noel, dreams that would always end before they could kiss. Noel asks if this means that they should make out, and Talia laughs before the sound of the fire alarm pulls her out of the moment. It seems to have grown louder since she sat down. She asks Noel why the alarm is so loud, and he shakes his head, stating that he cannot hear an alarm.
Suddenly, the beeping stops, and Talia notices that her sore throat feels better, too. The weight that has been pressing down on her chest all day seems to have lifted, and she feels “released. And I feel lighter—happier—all of a sudden” (68). Noel leans in to kiss her, and their lips finally meet. As they kiss, Talia thinks about how lucky she is to be with Noel, promising herself she will never again come so close to losing everything.
Chapter 13-Epilogue Analysis
This last section of chapters opens on Talia’s execution day, invoking The Ethics of Capital Punishment. As the executioner explains the lethal injection protocol, Talia thinks: “It’s supposed to be more humane […] in reality, the protocol is akin to torture […] I won’t be able to move or speak as my heart beats erratically and the drugs work to kill me. It could take as long as fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of torture” (57). This quote suggests that the government has deluded itself into arguing that such a manner of death can be construed as “humane.” Talia’s repeated use of the word “torture” in this quote highlights the severity of the punishment, a stark contrast to the claim that state-sanctioned murder can be humane.
In this last section of chapters, Talia’s perception of her reality in prison breaks down, making her aware of the extent of The Fallibility of Perception. While there are moments throughout the earlier chapters that indicate something in Talia’s reality is not quite right, it is not until the end of the text that she becomes aware that she has not been on death row at all, but in a coma. The moment of Talia’s epiphany occurs as she is injected with the lethal drugs during her execution. As she fades out of consciousness, she exits the fabricated reality of death row and realizes that she has been “imprisoned” in a coma for the last month.
The comparisons between these two planes become apparent as Talia listens to Noel plead with Dr. Bowman to keep her on life support indefinitely in the hopes she wakes up: “Wake up, Talia […] Please wake up. I love you so much” (65). These are the same pleas we have heard throughout the text as Talia wakes up from her dreams about Noel, alerting the reader to the fact that it has been Noel pleading with her to regain consciousness the entire time. Other aspects of this dual reality become apparent as Dr. Bowman explains the process for taking Talia off life support: “Now she’s going to inject a sedative in her IV, and then we’ll turn off the ventilator. She’ll go quickly after that” (65). This is a direct mirror of the previous chapter, in which Talia receives the lethal injection—the first one being a sedative.
As Talia is taken off life support and her consciousness begins to fade “like a song that is coming to an end” (65), the novella does not end, but rather concludes with an Epilogue that is meant to close the narrative on a somewhat ambiguous ending. Instead of dying, it is as if Talia wakes once more, having nearly collided with the truck but instead surviving and making her way home to Noel. One interpretation of the Epilogue is that Talia did, in fact, survive, having learned her lesson, but the fallibility of perception has already raised the extent to which the mind can deceive.
As in the prison scenes, there are clues in the Epilogue that illustrate a clearer picture of what is really going on. Talia is plagued by the same incessant beeping, now louder and more abrasive than ever, while Noel cannot hear it: “How is it possible that he doesn’t hear that alarm?” (68). When the beeping stops, suddenly Talia is no longer tense and agitated: “[M]y throat feels better too. It’s like a terrible weight has been pressing on my chest, and now I have finally been… released. And I feel lighter—happier—all of a sudden” (68). When reading these quotes within the context of the Epilogue as an “afterlife,” it becomes clear that Talia has died: Her throat has been extubated, her vitals have flatlined (contributing to the cessation of the beeping sound), and the pressure of the air being artificially fed into her lungs has released. Talia has died, but is no longer in pain, and her mind once more creates an alternate reality or afterlife scenario in which Talia is able to right her wrongs.
Death Row is ultimately a cautionary tale about letting The Psychological Impacts of Trauma and Reality shape one’s perception of reality, which can sometimes lead to disastrous outcomes. Talia displays growth in the final chapters, reflecting on how her choices led her to this outcome: “I shouldn’t have allowed my jealousy to get the better of me. I could say that my father’s death in the arms of another woman did a number on me, but that would be avoiding taking responsibility for my actions” (58). Talia has unknowingly given herself a death sentence, her imprisonment on death row becoming a metaphor for her unresolved guilt. In the Epilogue, however, there is a sad irony to Talia’s growth and reflection: “I spent my entire relationship with Noel tormenting myself with whether I was good enough […] but now it is so crystal clear—he loves me with all his heart […] I can’t believe I came so close to losing everything” (69). Talia has a renewed sense of wanting to commit to having a healthy relationship with Noel, horrified at the idea that she came so close to losing everything, but the sad irony is that, in reality, she has.
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