The Executioner's Song
85 pages • 2-hour read
Norman MailerThe Executioner's Song
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Book 1, Part 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, death by suicide, and emotional abuse.
Book 1, Part 7: “Death Row”
Book 1, Part 7, Chapter 30 Summary: “The Slammer”
In Portland, teacher Grace McGinnis hears that Gary Gilmore has been sentenced to death in Utah. She considers calling Gary’s mother, Bessie, but hesitates, remembering how Prolixin treatment seemed to leave him darker and frightening. Grace recalls meeting Mikal Gilmore (Gary’s brother) as a gifted student and then meeting Bessie when Mikal asked for help because Bessie was in tax trouble and facing foreclosure. Grace was struck by Bessie’s dignity, humor, and stoicism, and the two began a friendship. Bessie explains her poverty, her work as a bus girl, her arthritis, and her hope that the Mormon Church might help her keep the house. Grace cannot solve the problem, but she visits Bessie often, later learning stories about the house feeling “haunted” and about Frank Sr.’s accidents and decline.
Grace begins driving Bessie to Oregon State Penitentiary for visits with Gary. Grace observes the prison’s routines, the visiting room culture, and the social hierarchy among prisoners. Gary distinguishes between “inmates and convicts” (463), placing himself in the latter category. He is neat, controlled, and serious with Bessie; he talks with Grace about books, art, and spiritual subjects. He becomes furious when Bessie finally loses her house, directing anger toward the Mormon Church. Over the drives, Bessie tells family history: Traveling with Frank Sr., periods of poverty, Frank’s business success, and the chaotic nature of his later life. Bessie describes a haunting period in Salt Lake that she believes affected Gary, followed by worsening conflict between Gary and Frank. Gary’s reform school experience hardened him, and he became increasingly violent and scarred from fights.
Grace recalls a prison period when Gary is placed on Prolixin after a wrist-slashing incident. He appears physically impaired and emotionally absent, so Bessie confronts prison officials. Although Gary is taken off the drug, Grace feels he remains changed. Grace also becomes involved with Gaylen’s crisis, driving him between hospitals while he is refused admission.
Soon after, Grace receives a letter from Gary filled with hatred and violent talk. Overwhelmed, she withdraws from the family despite her affection for Bessie. Later, she hears that Gaylen has died and that Bessie paid to have Gary brought to the funeral under guard.
Book 1, Part 7, Chapter 31 Summary: “Wild Wind Blowing”
Gary writes to Nicole, describing the constant light, noise, and his hatred of the daily routine. He tells her he is inclined to accept execution and not pursue appeals, while also saying he will not directly ask her to die by suicide, even though he admits he sometimes wants that outcome. He arranges her visiting status and gives instructions for dealing with the warden if she is turned away.
Nicole keeps traveling to the prison, and Kathryne becomes frightened by Nicole’s talk that the children might be better off without her. Kathryne argues with her, says Gary “deserves the death penalty” (476), then shifts to offering rides so Nicole will not hitchhike. Sue observes Nicole withdraw from going out. Instead, Nicole spends nights reading and writing letters. Nicole tells Sue that Gary wants to die, and Sue later grows uneasy when Nicole asks how many pills it takes to die by suicide. Gary continues writing Nicole, repeatedly mentioning death by suicide. Nicole begins leaning toward dying rather than living without Gary.
Gary contacts Mormon chaplain Cline Campbell after a dream about Nicole being harmed. Campbell brings her to see him. Nicole tells Campbell that she might die if Gary dies. Campbell keeps the information private and continues counseling Gary, who admits he would rather die than spend decades in prison.
Snyder and Esplin later meet Gary and explain the appeal strategies they think are strong. Gary rejects their efforts, asks if he can fire them, and insists on his right to accept punishment to “atone” for his crimes. Wootton learns that Gary plans to withdraw motions and not appeal. Gary confirms under questioning that his decision is his own, that he is not intoxicated or claiming insanity, and that he does not want the execution date extended.
Book 1, Part 7, Chapter 32 Summary: “Old Cancer. New Madness”
After learning that Gary intends to forgo appeals, Bessie relives earlier fears. She has believed since his childhood that he was “going to be executed” (494). Alone in her trailer, weakened by arthritis and poverty, she reflects on losing the family house after the Mormon Church declined to help with back taxes. She remembers Gary’s fury when she told him the Church would not save it. She recalls memories of Frank Sr.’s illness and death, family fights, and the gradual scattering of her sons. She writes to Gary, begging him “to live.”
Mikal Gilmore reacts with anger and fear, believing Utah will carry out the sentence. He recalls earlier violence in Portland and his longstanding fear of Gary. He remembers Gary’s 1972 release, erratic behavior, request for a gun to free an inmate, reckless driving, and later arrest for armed robbery. At sentencing, Gary pleaded for leniency, saying prison had shaped him. The judge imposed nine years. Mikal would not speak to him again until 1976, by which time, Gary was “a household name to half of America” (503).
Book 1, Part 7 Analysis
The part of the story in which Bessie comes to visit Gary in prison is conveyed to the reader via the story of Grace McGinnis, who offers a model of compassion and social responsibility just as Brenda did in Part 1, reflecting the narrative’s interest in The Influence of Love and Hate in Human Lives. Through her acts of selfless kindness, she is able to help Bessie more than Bessie’s family, the church, or society in general. Grace offers to drive Bessie to the prison so that she can visit her son; by framing the story of this reunion through the lens of Grace’s involvement, the book provides a contrast to the violence of Gary’s story and the cynicism of the media circus that breaks out around his case. Grace offers a glimpse into a selfless, charitable, and compassionate side of society.
Gary’s response to Grace’s involvement—writing violent letters that upset her—reinforces how Gary has often responded to attempted acts of kindness from others with hostility and aggression, deepening the gulf between himself and wider society. His treatment of Nicole also reflects his tendency to lash out at others, even when they mean well and act lovingly toward him. He responds to Nicole’s renewed devotion to him by trying to pressure her into dying by suicide so that he does not have to face death alone. Gary’s emotional abuse of Nicole in trying to persuade her to die by suicide reflects how toxic and even dangerous their dynamic has become: While Gary proclaims his love for Nicole, his actions show that he does not prioritize her well-being or the needs of her children above his own desires.
By the time his trial is over and the sentence of execution is passed down, Gary has come to terms with his fate, initiating the text’s more detailed examination of The Death Penalty as Public Spectacle. He announces that he accepts his punishment and welcomes his execution. While Gary seems to agree with the judgment passed on him, others do not. Soon after the trial, people begin to disagree with the sentence. Then, they begin to disagree over Gary’s response to the sentence. Gary, as ever, is not playing by the expected rules of society. He is expected to launch a series of appeals and to fight for his life. Even the advocates for the death penalty feel that his execution is undermined by his wilful embrace of his own death, as though he is giving up something that he does not really value.
At the end of Book 1, the fame and notoriety that will explode in Book 2 are already beginning to emerge. Gary, the habitual rule breaker and the perpetual outsider, elevates himself into the public consciousness by agreeing with his own punishment. He invites his death and, in doing so, turns himself into the subject of a media frenzy. The disagreement over whether capital punishment should exist is complicated by the potential victim of capital punishment being an advocate for his own execution. More than a mere novelty, Gary’s response to his punishment is yet further evidence of his alienation from society, particularly as society itself struggles to comprehend his response.
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