58 pages • 1-hour read
The Poppy Fields
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Chapters 46-61Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
Chapter 46 Summary
News of Ellis’s assault spreads, but it only raises awareness for the Stop the Sleep movement. Ellis receives countless notifications from lawyers and members of her public-relations team, and she becomes even more worried about the side effect of emotional moderation. Yasmin tries to assure her that their board and donors are on her side, but Ellis is under so much stress that she begins talking to herself and spends an increasing amount of time ruminating on ways to improve the treatment.
Interlude 11 Summary: “For My Love, While I’m Sleeping”
A wife leaves her husband a loving list of everything he will need to do to take care of the kids and their house during her sleep treatment.
Chapter 47 Summary
At the restaurant, Sky plays a piece on the piano that Dean used to play for Sasha. Unbeknownst to Sasha, Sky had fished the sheet music out of her bag. Sasha has been carrying it as a reminder of him. She is flooded with memories of their relationship and retreats to their room for alone time.
Ava, Sky, and Ray discuss their lives and the fact that Ava and Ray will be at the Poppy Fields the following day. Ava is filled with gratitude toward her three traveling companions. They’ve become a family of sorts, and she will miss them when their journey ends.
Chapter 48 Summary
Sasha wakes early the following morning at their hotel in Sedona. It is her 30th birthday, but she has told none of her traveling companions. She goes out for a hike on a neighboring trail. There, she is struck by nature’s beauty and understands why people tried to get her to take up hiking or running as a way to manage grief. She realizes that finding solace in nature is the alternative to a place like the Poppy Fields.
Out on the trail, she encounters a bachelorette party. She does her best not to cry and to think in a more circumspect way about Dean’s death and her future. She calls her parents so that they can wish her a happy birthday, hoping that she will be able to move on.
Chapter 49 Summary
Sky is the first to say goodbye. Ray and Sasha are curious why she hasn’t asked them about their reasons for going to the Poppy Fields. She explains that after reading about it, she decided that they must be dealing with some difficult situations, and it is none of her business. Ray decides that Sky is more mature than he’s given her credit for. She then tells them about a party she attended at which a girl overdosed; most people were too scared to call 911. Sky attended to her until the ambulance came.
That night, she realized that a long life is not guaranteed. She decided that she had to travel and figure out what shape she wanted her life to take. As an afterthought, she adds that because she and Ray are both from Kansas City and he’s a firefighter, the ambulance paramedic could have been someone from his crew. Ray finds it hard to respond without crying, thinking that it was very likely his brother. He thinks about what she said and realizes that the future might hold possibilities; there will be a life for him after Johnny, and it is his to shape.
Interlude 12 Summary: “The Poppy Fields Interview Transcript”
The narrative shifts to the interview transcript for an applicant to the Poppy Fields. He explains that his parents forced him to apply because he began eating his lunch in cemeteries. He doesn’t feel depressed; he just likes to think about all the people who lived before him. The team explains that they do not accept applications from people who have been coerced into applying.
Chapter 50 Summary
Ava, Sasha, and Ray approach the Poppy Fields but realize that it is not on any maps. They stop at a bar called Donna’s and ask the proprietress, Donna herself, about how to get there. She informs them that the road is too rough for their rental car and offers to drive them there in her truck.
On the way, she asks if they are sneaking in. She knows that approved applicants are provided with transportation. She herself underwent a sleep treatment at the Poppy Fields.
Chapter 51 Summary
Donna and her husband opened the bar after owning another bar, raising two children in the desert, retiring, traveling, and then realizing that they missed running their old bar. She recalls being surprised when the Poppy Fields opened up nearby.
Chapter 52 Summary
Chapter 53 Summary
Ava and Ray see a security guard near the entrance. Ava calmly tells him that she is Ellis’s sister and is there to see her.
Chapter 54 Summary
Unnerved, Ellis asks Ava what she is doing there. She looks questioningly at Ray. He is familiar, but she cannot place him. She is so unsettled that she shows them the area where the sleepers are resting. Yasmin, in shock, comes to ask what is going on. Ellis asks her to give Ray a tour while she speaks with Ava.
Chapter 55 Summary
Ava angrily accuses her sister of abandoning her and Granny Mae. Ellis takes a deep breath and admits that she prioritized work over family while she was developing the sleep treatment. When she missed Mae’s death, she was so guilt-stricken that she underwent the treatment. She woke up with the side effect of emotional moderation.
Chapter 56 Summary
Sasha returns to the bar with Donna. On their way back, they share their stories. Donna explains that she sought treatment to handle her husband’s death, but ultimately, she realized that grief is part of love and that grieving means that you’ve truly loved someone. It’s an important part of life, and it is unavoidable if you have meaningful relationships.
Sasha had much the same realization, which is why she chose not to seek the treatment. She realizes that it is time to go back to her life. Dean has only been gone a few months, and she will likely have a few more months that will be difficult. Eventually, though, grief lessens, and people move on. She understands now that this is part of being human.
Chapter 57 Summary
Ellis explains to Ava that she found dealing with Mae’s death impossible and quickly underwent the treatment. She woke up without any real feeling toward their grandmother. Ava is upset and points out that Ellis withdrew from Ava long before her botched sleep treatment. Ellis admits to this but argues that she was trying to set a good example. Ava responds that she wanted a loving relationship, not someone to set an example for her.
They argue back and forth for a while, but ultimately, Ava admits that Ellis’s treatment does have the power to heal and that her work is important. Ellis apologizes for not being the sister Ava needed. Ava asks if they can start over. Despite Ellis’s reservations (she no longer feels as though she can truly be a good sister), she agrees to try it.
Interlude 13 Summary: “New York Chronicle: Why Would Anyone Sleep at the Poppy Fields?”
The narrative shifts to an excerpt from a New York Chronicle article. The author argues that people choose the sleep treatment to heal, but love is the root of grief and endures long after the loved one is gone. Love and grief are both parts of life.
Chapter 58 Summary
Ray tells Yasmin that he doesn’t want a tour and asks where the restrooms are. On a wall near them, he sees a massive collage of photographs. He asks Yasmin if they are the sleepers, but she tells him that they are photographs of the people the sleepers lost.
Chapter 59 Summary
Ray and Yasmin reconnect with Ellis and Ava. Ray asks Ellis if she remembers Johnny, and she explains how sorry she is and how much Johnny’s death has haunted her. They talk about how successful Johnny’s treatment was, and Ray surprises everyone by asking if he can undergo the treatment. Ellis and Yasmin explain that they can expedite his application, but he will still have to submit to the screening process. As he walks away with Yasmin to begin filling out forms, he gives Ava a quick kiss on the cheek.
Chapter 60 Summary
Flynn moves to oust Ellis from the Poppy Fields, partly because of her unwillingness to move forward with expansion and partly because of how distracted she’s become by the side effect and her “dangerous” decision to fast-track Ray’s application. At first, Ellis vows to make her case in front of the board, but then, she realizes that she’s been granted a new opportunity: Research has always been her real passion.
Ellis thinks that perhaps her new role at the Poppy Fields will be to research the elimination of the side effect. She decides that she will argue to the board that Yasmin is better suited to take over than Flynn. She also decides to work as hard as she can to repair her fractured bond with Ava.
Interlude 14 Summary: “The Valley Voice”
The narrative shifts to a newspaper interview with Ellis about her new center for sleep treatment. She talks to the reporter about her center’s name. He assumes that she chose poppies because of their association with narcotic-induced sleep, but she corrects him. Poppies, she explains, can grow in even the poorest of soils. They were the first flowers to bloom on the battlefields of World War I, and they are found all over the world. If poppies can grow from rubble, she thinks that it is possible for even the most damaged people to heal from their grief.
Chapter 61 Summary
Sky keeps in touch with Sasha, Ava, and Ray. Sasha is happy with her work as an occupational therapist and seems poised to get into a new relationship. Ava is back in Kansas, and although she swears that she and Ray are just friends, both Sasha and Sky hope that the friendship will blossom into something more. After his treatment, Ray feels better but still has flashes of memories of his brother. Ultimately, he realizes that he wants to honor Johnny by being the kind of man his brother would have been proud of. Sky is living in California. She loves the ocean and is still comfortable with not setting a clear course for her future.
Chapters 46-61 Analysis
The novel’s conclusion is dominated by confrontations and reconciliations, the first of which is Sasha’s. Sky plays a piece of music that Dean used to play, and it places Sasha squarely back into the grieving process that she sought to avoid. On a hike the next morning, she encounters a bachelorette party and is again faced with the reminder of her marriage and grief. Once she is forced to confront her loss, Sasha realizes that she no longer has the desire to sidestep grief. She decides that time spent in nature can be therapeutic and could perhaps offer her an alternative to traditional therapy or the sleep treatment. After her conversation with Donna, she realizes that grief is unavoidable, one of the novel’s most important moments of engagement with The Individual Nature of Grief and Healing. Through Sasha’s experience, Erlick makes the argument that grief is actually part of love: People feel grief after losing a loved one because the relationship was meaningful. Sasha finally understands that if she wants to have real connections with other people, she will always run the risk of experiencing loss and grief. Because grief is part of love, Sasha decides not to seek the treatment: For her, fully going through each stage of the grieving process becomes a way to honor Dean.
Ray’s experience also asserts that, as universal as grief is, the way that people experience grief is individualized, and so is the healing process. Ray’s choice to undergo the sleep treatment speaks to his unique experience of grief: It is a way to honor his brother. Johnny sought the sleep treatment, arguing that it wasn’t avoidance or weakness. Seeking the treatment instead displayed emotional intelligence and maturity: It was an acknowledgment of the fact that he could not manage his grief alone and needed help. He argued that therapy, medication, the sleep treatment, and other psychological tools are all perfectly acceptable ways of combating the pain of loss. Ray rejected that argument, but he now sees its validity. Choosing to follow in Johnny’s footsteps is also a subtle hint that he has chosen to re-align the way that his values inform his actions, highlighting The Impact of Family Relationships on Identity Development. Much of Ray’s early characterization evidences his father’s influence: He is emotionally distant, cannot ask for help, and has internalized the idea that “real men” do not discuss their feelings. In following Johnny’s lead rather than his father’s, Ray accepts a new behavioral model and begins working toward becoming a more self-actualized person.
Ellis and Ava also have an important confrontation and reconciliation. That Ava confronts Ellis demonstrates an assertiveness that she has long felt she lacked. She characterized herself as passive and Ellis as assertive. However, Ava realizes the importance of family and, now that Granny Mae is gone, is willing to fight to repair her relationship with Ellis. In these chapters, Ellis admits to her own need for the sleep treatment in the wake of Mae’s death and displays an emotional intelligence about her family that she has not evidenced thus far. She has always had a relatively easy time directing empathy toward her patients but not toward her grandmother or sister. Although she tells Ava that she experienced the side effect, she is still willing to try to rekindle their relationship. This revelation, and Ellis’s commitment to their relationship even in the face of such an obstacle, illustrate her growth over the course of the novel. She has moved from believing single-mindedly in the treatment to understanding the importance of human connection, and her willingness to try highlights a larger willingness to reengage with life and relationships, signifying her growth. This shift is further emphasized by her decision to leave her role at the program, as her concern for the long-term effects on their patients stands in stark contrast to her colleague’s focus on growth and profit.
Sky’s backstory reveals another kind of confrontation and speaks to the roots of her emotional maturity. She tells the group that after witnessing a near overdose, she came to the realization that nothing in life is guaranteed and that she had to seize the moment and take control of her life. Her entire personality embodies this revelation, and her character becomes even more multi-faceted at this point in the novel. That the paramedic at the party where she witnessed the overdose was likely Johnny provides Ray with more fodder for reflection, and it is during this moment that his decision to honor Johnny takes shape. Sky once again becomes a catalyst for reflection, even as she reveals her own individual story, emphasizing the theme of The Formation of Surrogate Families Through Shared Trauma through her newfound connection with Ray.
Ultimately, the novel argues that grieving is inevitable but that healing is always possible. Ellis’s discussion of the symbolic significance of poppies speaks to this: She firmly believes that everyone, like the poppy flower, is capable of growing in even the most inhospitable of soils. By this, she means that anyone can heal from their sorrows, given the right tools. Although the treatment does receive criticism, Ray’s choice to undergo the treatment marks it as just one tool in a larger psychological toolbox. Through the various characters’ approaches to the sleep treatment and grief itself, the novel highlights both the individual and universal aspects of the grieving process. In the end, each of their perspectives contributes to the novel’s argument that like love, grief is an inescapable part of life; while everyone’s process is different, and may or may not include the treatment, the accompanying needs for acceptance and support are universal.
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