53 pages • 1-hour read
Hot Milk
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 23-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, sexual content, emotional abuse, animal cruelty and death, mental illness, and ableism.
Chapter 23 Summary: “The Severing”
Sofia and Rose go to an early appointment with Gomez and Julieta. Rose insists that she does not have feet, and Julieta takes notes on the conversation. Gomez explains that Rose filed an official complaint against him, so a representative from Barcelona and a pharmaceutical executive are visiting in two days. The executive is Matthew’s client.
Gomez speaks to Sofia alone, offering her a croissant. Gomez explains that James, the pharmaceutical executive, is making up disorders and selling medication for them, using social anxiety as an example. Gomez says he cannot help Rose anymore, and he is refunding a significant portion of his fee. Rose is making an appointment to have her feet amputated, but Sofia thinks Rose was only joking. Gomez suggests that Sofia go for a hike and avoid developing a limp.
The other narrator recalls how the Greek girl cried when she saw three dead chickens tied to a tree. The Greek girl likes the smoke of war but claims she did not start the fighting and has no weapons. The Greek girl wants a job, and the narrator has other things to do.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Paradise”
Sofia tans on a nude beach and watches two teenage girls with a dog. The dog howls in the shade, and she recognizes it as Pablo’s dog. A father and son throw rocks in the water, and Sofia sees the man and teenagers look at each other. Sofia has a splinter of glass above her eyebrow.
Dan texts to say that he painted the storeroom and asks what to do with Sofia’s books and winter gear. Sofia feels like he is taking over her room and thinks the Mead quote is a mark of her ownership of the space. Earlier, she saw Matthew, who had a box of clothes for Ingrid. He asked Sofia to pay for half the wine Ingrid stole. Sofia tells Matthew to tell Ingrid that Pablo’s dog is alive.
That night, Sofia and Juan have sex, and she likes that they are not in love. Sofia reads an email from Alexandra out loud in English and in Greek. Alexandra found out that Christos is leaving all his money to the church, and she is worried for herself, Evangeline, and Sofia. She says Sofia is like both a daughter and a sister to her. Sofia and Juan talk about America, where Sofia might complete her thesis on memory, but she feels lost in time.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Restoration”
Instead of fixing the Grecian urn, Sofia drinks wine. She brings Rose water, but Sofia is not speaking to Rose. Rose’s decision to amputate her feet upsets Sofia, and Sofia is focused on filling out her application to complete her doctorate in America.
The other narrator has a dream that they fall asleep with a hand on the Greek girl’s breast. When the Greek girl wakes up, she says she will wear the handprint on her breast as a warning to her enemies.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Gomez on Trial”
Gomez, Julieta, Sofia, and Rose meet with James, the pharmaceutical executive, and Covarrubias, the health official from Barcelona. James fidgets with a golf ball, and Gomez explains that Rose was hospitalized for dehydration, adding that they have run tests for many possible medical conditions. They are currently waiting for the results of an endoscopy.
Rose says the treatment is over, and she plans to get treatment in London. Rose struggles to answer their questions, and James shatters the glass enclosure around the taxidermy monkey with the golf ball. Sofia claims she does not know if Rose is alive or dead, but Rose interrupts her by telling a joke about Yorkshire in Greek. Rose taught Sofia Greek, and Sofia tried to forget the language. Sofia says Gomez gave her hope, then Gomez talks to James and Covarrubias in Spanish, after which James and Covarrubias leave.
Gomez asks Sofia to leave, and Rose notes that a shard of the monkey’s glass case hit Sofia above her eyebrow. As Sofia leaves, she sees her mother become more vivid.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Vanquishing Sofia”
Sofia goes for a hike and listens to music. As she heads back to the beach, she sees Ingrid riding Leonardo’s horse toward her. Sofia thinks Ingrid beheaded her sister and intends to kill Sofia, too, so she drops to the ground.
Ingrid asks what Sofia is doing and demands Sofia’s shirt. Sofia gives Ingrid her shirt, and Ingrid says Sofia never gave her anything in exchange for the clothes she embroidered for her. Ingrid worries that Sofia thinks Ingrid is a murderer. Ingrid rides away, and Sofia is sure that she is in love with Ingrid. Sofia is glad that she is not napping on a couch with an old man and a baby.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Walking the Walk”
Sofia helps a fisherman and his sons secure a boat, and they give her the sword of a swordfish in exchange. Sofia walks on the beach and sees Rose walking nearby. Sofia swims into the ocean to avoid being seen, and she watches Rose walk along the beach to a shower to rinse her feet.
Sofia swims through a lot of jellyfish on her way back to shore, getting stung on her stomach and chest. Sofia examines her mother’s footprints and thinks about how Rose went to college, went to Greece, abandoned her family’s religion, and raised a daughter. If Rose amputates her feet, Sofia is not sure how she will take care of her or protect herself from her.
Sofia sees some girls burying their friend in the sand, and she reaches into the sand to pull the girl out. The girls run for their mother, who chases Sofia. Sofia goes to the injury hut, where Juan explains how environmental factors lead to an increased number of jellyfish. Juan wonders if he is softer than Sofia.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Matricide”
Sofia goes home and asks what her mother did that day. Rose says she did nothing and asks for water. Sofia gets her water and a mixture of banana and milk.
Sofia compares Rose to someone breaking their own leg to beg others for money. Rose hurls insults at Sofia, who goes to the bathroom, brushes her hair, and puts on makeup. Sofia suggests taking Rose for a drive, and Rose agrees. Sofia feels strong and brings Rose to the car in her wheelchair.
Sofia realizes that Rose has chosen to keep Sofia tethered to her. Sofia drives quickly, stopping once to get Rose some water. They continue driving, and Rose asks if Sofia is expecting to meet someone at their destination. They pull over by some ruins for sale and see a Ferris wheel in the distance. Sofia sees a truck coming, wheels Rose into the middle of the road, and leaves her.
Chapter 30 Summary: “The Dome”
Sofia goes to Gomez’s clinic, which she says looks like a giant, marble breast. Gomez is in his office watching Jodo, who just delivered her kittens. Gomez points out the strongest and weakest kittens. Sofia says she has killed her mother, explaining how she left Rose in the road.
Gomez thinks Rose will walk out of the road, and he chastises Sofia for disturbing the cats and for bringing up the walking problem. Gomez says that children of mournful mothers wonder why their mother is dead when they are alive. He says Sofia cannot let the dead control her and prescribes running up six flights of stairs. Sofia wonders if Gomez and Julieta are curing Rose’s mind or her own.
Chapter 31 Summary: “The Diagnosis”
Sofia goes home and finds Rose standing. Rose is tall. Sofia tells her about Jodo’s kittens, and Rose asks if Sofia wants to know about the truck driver who drove her home. Sofia does not, and she asks Rose for a glass of water. Sofia imagines she has been waiting for Rose to make a change and bring Sofia with her.
Rose admits that she went for a walk, and Sofia notes that Rose never tells her good news. Rose cannot imagine Sofia driving, but she can imagine Sofia getting her doctorate in America. Rose promises to try to do things that are to her advantage.
Sofia says Gomez is refunding his fee, but Rose says Gomez is a good doctor. Rose now has the results of the endoscopy, and she repeats the word “esophageal.” Sofia says it cannot be, and Rose says she has been watching Sofia even when she pretended not to.
The tide comes in, bringing jellyfish with it.
Chapters 23-31 Analysis
In the final section, Sofia is “vanquished” in the sense that she completes her transformation into the Medusa, bringing The Struggle for Independence to its culmination. She severs her ties to Ingrid, giving her the shirt off her back in a direct mirroring of the gifts Ingrid has given her, which suggests that she realizes that she cannot depend on a lover figure to rescue her from her unhappiness. Likewise, she realizes the nature of Alexandra’s relationship with Christos, in which Alexandra and Evangeline are secondary to God—just like Rose and Sofia—in Christos’s mind. In being able to see others more clearly, Sofia is able to differentiate herself from them and to understand more clearly who she is and what she wants.
Sofia hikes alone and returns thinking, “I had journeyed as far from myself as I have ever been, far, far away from any landmarks I recognized” (202). This concept of distance is both literal and figurative, as Sofia literally hikes until she is lost in the forest. However, figuratively, Sofia has left her old self behind, and she culminates her journey in Almeria by confronting her own desires. She returns from the hike determined to act in her own self-interest, regardless of what Rose, Ingrid, or Alexandra might think of her.
Sofia’s confrontation with Rose also brings about significant changes for both women, enabling both to become more separate people. Rose’s change in demeanor is due both to Sofia’s attempt at matricide and Rose’s diagnosis. Sofia’s accusation that Rose was never ill and only used her illness to restrain Sofia from living her own life finally seems to strike a chord with Rose, who admits that she is capable of being more independent and will try to do more for herself from now on. In refusing to enable Rose any further, Sofia inadvertently freed her mother as well as herself: In starting to walk again and standing tall, Rose is finally back to “standing on her own two feet” in both a literal and figurative sense, liberated from her perpetual sense of neediness and helplessness.
Rose also swaps roles with Sofia, as Sofia asks for water when she returns home. This action helps to place Rose back into the role of a capable caregiver, enabling Sofia at last to receive some of the support she has craved from her parents. Instead of chastising Sofia, Rose explains that she wants Sofia to pursue her doctorate in America, adding, “It’s what mothers do. We watch our children. We know our gaze is powerful, so we pretend not to look” (218). Rose’s claim is that she wants what is best for Sofia, even if she does not always seem to act in Sofia’s interests. In encouraging Sofia to go to America, she accepts the necessity of Sofia developing her own independent identity.
The ending emphasizes that Sofia’s transformation is still in flux, with the final paragraph describing medusa limbs “in limbo, like something cut loose, a placenta, a parachute, a refugee severed from its place of origin” (218). This imagery speaks to how Sofia has undergone, and is still undergoing, significant changes, as terms like “placenta” and “limbo” imply liminal spaces of gestation and in-betweenness. “Parachute” implies protection, and “refugee,” “severed,” and “cut loose” imply fear and loneliness, while still speaking of possibility and new beginnings. Sofia’s former association with medusas was grounded in power, boldness, and confidence; now that she has confronted Rose and found that Rose has a real illness, Sofia is cut free of Rose without direction. Sofia will thus have to continue embracing her agency if she is to move forward.
The conclusion of Hot Milk is intentionally open-ended, as Rose hints at a severe diagnosis but only repeats the word “esophageal.” The implication of this ending is that Rose has a terminal illness, revealed in Sofia’s comment, “Is it easier to surrender to death than to life?” (218). Suddenly, Sofia is afraid for Rose and herself, as things are changing in ways to which Sofia does not know how to adapt. This uncertainty ends the novel with a tone of both possibility and anxiety, reflecting Sofia’s lack of direction. Nevertheless, Rose’s admittance that she can see Sofia doing her doctorate in America suggests that there is a path forward, while Rose’s acceptance of the necessity of being more independent implies that the mother-daughter relationship can heal with time.
Unlock all 53 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs