46 pages 1 hour read

Cormac McCarthy

The Passenger

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary

The Kid visits Alicia after she has visited her doctor. He asks if the doctor was inappropriate with her. The doctor prescribed for her anti-psychotic medication, which she took for a couple of days before deciding to dispose of the medicine due to her concerns about side effects. The narrative in this section jumps around and there are multiple interactions with The Kid. Alicia’s brother, Bobby, also visits and she goes out to various places with him. During one meeting with The Kid, Alicia calls him a “dwarf,” and then immediately apologizes. Her tone toward The Kid is much more assertive than before, and she even is often dismissive of him. Toward the end of this section, Alicia describes herself as having schizophrenia. She visits a hospital and elects to undergo electric shock therapy. When she begins to wake up and is recovering from the procedure, she is visited by The Kid and others in his gang, who are all covered in ash and soot apparently because they were partially burned by the electric shock.

The narrative shifts to a dinner Bobby has with his friend John Sheddan, an eccentric character with a penchant for fine wine and criminal activity, particularly illegally selling prescription drugs.