43 pages • 1-hour read
Maria Chapdelaine
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Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “Love Bearing Chains”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
The following Sunday, Eutrope Gagnon, having heard of Lorenzo Suprenant’s visit, arrives to make his own confession of love. Where François arrived confidently “in the full tide of summer” (67), Eutrope is sheepish, aware that he “[bears] little in his hands wherewith to tempt her” (67). He promises that he will work tirelessly to make his farm profitable if she is willing to wait for him, proposing that they marry the following year.
Maria imagines life with Eutrope, “[living] just as she was doing in another wooden house on another half-cleared farm” (67). The prospect seems unacceptable, and she tells him that she cannot answer yet. Eutrope departs, dejected.
March is a melancholy month for Maria, with each day bleeding into the next. The happiness she felt with François is gone forever, and she must forget it to move on with her life. No longer guided by her heart, she will need to make a practical decision between Eutrope and Lorenzo—life on the farm, or life in the city. She decides to marry Lorenzo, driven primarily by her desire to leave behind the woods and the winter cold that remind her of François.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Into The Deep Silence”
One day in April, Madame Chapdelaine is stricken by an unknown illness. She laments that she is certain she will die. Several home remedies prove ineffective, and the local doctor is unable to diagnose her. Since the roads are impassable, Eutrope sets out on foot to fetch Tit’Sebe the bonesetter, who lives in the nearby village of St. Felicien. Tit’Sebe is likewise unable to diagnose Madame Chapdelaine, and states that “she will die if that be God’s pleasure” (76).
As Madame Chapdelaine’s condition worsens, Samuel calls on the curé to say her final rites. Maria sits by her mother, feeling “a melancholy peace in the certainty and nearness of death” (78). She knows that the curé never fails to arrive when he is needed, and this thought drives out her fear and grief.
The nor’wester once again blows through the woods, bringing on a howling storm. Amid the storm, Samuel arrives with the curé, “heaven’s envoy bringing pardon and peace” (79). The curé absolves Madame Chapdelaine, and the family prays together by the bed. At 4:00 AM, the storm dies down, and at the same moment, Madame Chapdelaine takes her last breath.
Chapter 15 Summary: “That We Perish Not”
Sitting by Madame Chapdelaine’s body, Samuel speaks fondly of his late wife. Madame Chapdelaine was unfailingly good-natured and stoic, taking up the work of cultivating the land alongside him. He speaks regretfully of his restless spirit. Each time he established a farm, he would inevitably grow tired of the work and be seized by a desire to move again. Samuel feels that it is his fault that his wife died far away from civilization.
Maria is moved by her father’s words and feels that they contain a lesson she cannot yet understand. She thinks of her mother, who loved company, spending her days in the remote woods without complaint. Madame Chapdelaine’s only reward for her steadfast faith was the praise given after her death, and Maria wonders if this is a worthy trade.
Looking out at the snowy ground outside the house, Maria no longer feels scared. Instead, the woods seem peaceful, and she once again senses that spring is near. She knows in her heart that she has the strength to live as her mother did, but she is still tempted by the allure of the city. Maria asks herself why she should stay in such a harsh place when she has been offered an easier life with Lorenzo.
An inner voice answers, “with the majesty of an organ’s tones…like the long high call of woodsmen in the forest” (86). The voice speaks of 300 years of Québécois history, from the arrival of the first French settlers who brought with them their traditions, faith, and language. The voice tells Maria that although “foreigners” have seized most of the land and wealth around them, the Québécois are “a race of people that knows not how to perish” (88). It is Maria’s duty to carry on her family’s way of life and honor her ancestors. Convinced, Maria declares her decision to marry Eutrope and stay in the woods.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Pledged To The Race”
In May, Esdras and Da’Be return from the shanties. They mourn the loss of Madame Chapdelaine but put their grief aside to begin the summer’s work.
Eutrope Gagnon arrives to visit Maria, asking her if she is still considering leaving Québec. Maria tells him that she will stay. She accepts his proposal, agreeing to marry him the following spring, when Esdras and Da’Be once again return from the woods.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
Madame Chapdelaine’s death is the climax of the novel, bringing the theme of The Importance of Resiliency and Faith to its conclusion. The isolated location of the farmhouse means that she cannot receive adequate medical care in time to save her life, and it’s implied that a lifetime of hard labour in adverse conditions contributed to her early death. The reactions of other characters in the moments before and after her death highlight how faith enables their resilience. The doctor Tit’Sebe, after confirming that he cannot diagnose Madame Chapdelaine, states that “she will die if that be God’s pleasure” (78). This statement is spoken without malice or irony; it is instead a simple belief that God calls people to him when it is their time.
The belief that Madame Chapdelaine’s death is ordained by God is a source of comfort for Maria. After struggling for days to diagnose and cure her mother’s mysterious ailment, the notion that it is her pre-ordained time to die allows Maria to let go of her anxieties, certain that her mother will receive salvation if her last rites are performed. Despite the adverse conditions the curé must travel to reach the Chapdelaine home, Maria maintains a simple and certain faith that he will arrive in time to bless her mother. Once again, she capitulates completely to a higher power, and this capitulation enables her to cope with another tragedy.
As Maria predicted, the curé traverses an impossible landscape to arrive at Madame Chapdelaine’s house on time. His arrival signifies a temporary triumph of divinity over the indifference of nature. The wind retreats at the moment of Madame Chapdelaine’s death, reinforcing the connection between nature and the divine.
Madame Chapdelaine’s death places more pressure on Maria’s choice between Duty Versus Personal Fulfillment. As the only surviving adult woman in the Chapdelaine household, her duty to care for her father and young siblings has increased. After Madame Chapdelaine dies, Maria re-evaluates her relationship to this duty. Madame Chapdelaine was the model of a dutiful wife, tolerantly following her husband wherever he went. She modeled the virtues of tenacity, faith, and loyalty, which the text frames as integral to the French-Canadian spirit. As a result, her life was difficult. As Maria notes, she received no earthly reward for her fealty, only “a little word of praise” (85) and fond memories after her death. If Maria chooses to marry Eutrope, she can expect a similar fate.
When Maria beseeches the universe for advice, the voice that speaks to her is “the voice of Québec” (86), embodying all facets of French-Canadian history and culture. The voice details everything that makes up “the soul of the province,” from “ancestral faith” to “the lilt of…old speech” and “the barbaric strength of this new land” (86). It tells Maria that her duty and destiny is to “endure” and continue the lifestyle of her ancestors. Notably, the voice frames French-Canadian people as the true “soul” of the land, entirely erasing the presence of Indigenous Canadians. Maria’s decision to remain “pledged to the race” (90) and marry Eutrope rather than seeking a more comfortable life elsewhere cements the narrative’s conceit that adherence to duty, family, and community trumps the individual pursuit of happiness.
The return of spring at the end of the novel signals the cyclical and repetitive nature of life, invoking The Hardships and Beauty of Rural Life. The land that once lay frozen and bare is once again ready to support new growth, and Maria is ready to begin her new life with Eutrope. Though long and hard winters are inevitable, the reprieve of spring never fails to arrive. Likewise, both tragedy and joy are inevitable parts of life, to be endured with unceasing faith and resilience.
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