54 pages • 1-hour read
The Shoemaker's Wife
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Part 3, Chapters 25-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, and death in childbirth.
Part 3: “Minnesota”
Part 3, Chapter 25 Summary: “A Lucky Charm”
Four years later, Ciro consults his doctor (Dr. Graham) about his recent shortness of breath. Watching 11-year-old Antonio run up the hill alongside him, he reflects on his life and worries about his health. Dr. Graham examines Ciro and asks him questions about the war, suggesting that his illness may be related to inhalation of mustard gas. He refers him to an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic for further tests.
Ciro travels to Rochester for his tests. That night, Enza can’t sleep and worries that Ciro will misrepresent his experience during the war. The next day, Ciro’s oncologist, Dr. Renfro, examines him and runs tests, confirming that he has a malignant tumor resulting from exposure to mustard gas. He urges Ciro to participate in treatment but gives him a one-year prognosis.
Back at home, Ciro informs Enza of his condition. He insists on sharing the news with Antonio, too. Antonio listens closely. He and Enza hug and comfort Ciro, but even their kind words can’t stop him from shaking with sadness. In bed that night, he weeps, knowing that his death will cause Antonio the same pain he has felt since childhood.
Over the following months, Ciro and Enza share many intimate nights and conversations. One day, Ciro suggests that the Latinis move to Chisholm to be nearer to Enza after his death. Enza is frustrated that Ciro doubts she’ll be okay on her own. Ciro insists that she and Antonio will need support. Meanwhile, Enza hopes for a miracle. She urges Ciro to return to the Italian Alps, thinking that a trip home might heal him.
Pappina and Luigi agree to care for Antonio while Enza accompanies Ciro to New York. From there, he’ll venture to Italy. Shortly before leaving, Ciro receives a letter from Eduardo informing him that he has found Caterina and wants Ciro to visit. On the way to New York, Ciro muses about the life that he and Enza have shared.
Part 3, Chapter 26 Summary: “‘A Carriage Ride”
Enza and Ciro stay with Colin and Laura in Manhattan. They live in a penthouse, and Laura is pregnant. The next day, Ciro wanders through the city alone. That evening, Enza takes him to the opera. They spend the next few days visiting their old haunts and reflecting on the past. Then, Laura goes into labor and gives birth to Henry Heery Chapin. Shortly after, Ciro leaves for Italy on the SS Augustus. The journey reminds him of his original voyage to Manhattan.
Back in the mountains, Ciro visits San Nicola and reunites with the nuns. They’re thrilled to see him but devastated by his news. From the convent, Ciro ventures to the Ravanellis’ house, where he meets Enza’s parents, her siblings, and their families. Ciro realizes how much Enza left behind and the life she loved best. Before he leaves, Eliana gives him “a small leather-bound book” (423) that belonged to Enza. He lies awake reading it that night at the convent. One entry details the day that he and Enza met. Ciro realizes that she was in love with him all along.
Part 3, Chapter 27 Summary: “A Blue Cameo”
The next day, Ciro waits in the piazza “for Eduardo to arrive with their mother” (427). He’s overwhelmed with emotion at seeing Caterina again. She tries to explain herself, apologizing for all she missed and failed to do. That night, they all stay at the convent. The brothers lie awake, talking about their mother and their lives; through the wall, Caterina hears them talking and feels heartened. The next day, they part ways. Caterina gives Ciro a necklace for Enza. He boards the SS Conte Grande for Manhattan.
Part 3, Chapter 28 Summary: “A Skylight”
Ciro maintains the shop until 1932. Over time, his health wanes. In his final days, Enza and Antonio stay at his bedside. They share stories and memories. When Ciro dies, Enza and Antonio weep and prepare his body. Then Enza writes to Eduardo with the news.
Part 3, Chapter 29 Summary: “A Pair of Ice Skates”
Over the following years, Enza adapts to life without Ciro. She continues running the shop and caring for Antonio, who is now 17. He gets a scholarship to college and plans to move away for school.
One day, Luigi informs Enza and Antonio that Pappina died in childbirth. Distraught, he insists on returning to Italy with his sons. He begs Enza to take care of his daughter, Angela. Enza agrees.
Enza raises Angela alongside Antonio. They develop a kinship, and Enza teaches her everything she knows. Eventually, Angela decides to leave home for Manhattan. Meanwhile, Antonio attends Notre Dame, graduating in 1940. Afterward, he decides to enlist in the army to fight overseas. Enza doesn’t want him to go, but doesn’t force him to take the exemption for sons of widows.
Antonio leaves for New Haven and travels overseas. He writes to Enza from the front.
In 1944, Laura visits Enza in Chisholm. They talk about their lives, their children, and motherhood. Enza opens up about her grief over Ciro. Laura invites Enza to come spend some time in New York.
Angela studies music in the city. She gets to know Laura, who has become her mentor. One day, she tells Laura her plans to move to Italy to be with her family. She’ll tell Enza after Antonio returns, fearing that she’ll break her mother’s heart. The two visit the chapel and light candles on Antonio’s behalf. Shortly after, Antonio unexpectedly returns to New York. He and Angela are surprised and delighted to see each other again. They fall in love and return to Minnesota together to marry. The news fills Enza with joy. She studies her wedding photo, reflecting on her life with Ciro.
Part 3-Chapters 25-29 Analysis
The novel’s final chapters lead Ciro and Enza’s story through its climax, descending action, denouement, and resolution. After Ciro and Enza learn of Ciro’s bleak prognosis, they must orient themselves to yet another new reality. This climactic plot point alters the novel’s stakes and accelerates the narrative pacing. While the first two sections of the novel are more protracted, depicting Ciro’s and Enza’s lives day by day, these final chapters compress time and detail the characters’ experiences over the course of years. The more rapid narrative pacing ushers the novel toward its end and conveys how the passage of time alters the characters’ senses of reality and self.
Ciro and Enza’s final months and days together further develop the theme of The Journey Toward Self-Discovery, Meaning, and Purpose. Ciro’s diagnosis and prognosis compel him and Enza to reflect on the lives they’ve lived and the meaning they derived from their experiences. Learning of Ciro’s illness takes Enza “totally by surprise” (396), and she’s desperate for Ciro not to “just give up” (397). When Ciro meditates on the news, he realizes that his “greatest fear [has] come true” (399). The characters’ initial anger, grief, and denial convey their reluctance to give up the life they built together. Ciro and Enza’s relationship has afforded them a sense of meaning and purpose, as has their relationship with their son, Antonio. Ciro’s death will effectively end the “unusually serene” and “happy” life they’ve created together. Death, the novel implies, is one fact of life that even the greatest love cannot eradicate.
At the same time, Ciro’s death doesn’t negate the love and tenderness that Enza and her family have cultivated over time. Rather, the way she and Antonio respond to Ciro’s death reiterates the theme of Love Enduring Through Hardship. They honor Ciro’s life before he passes and refuse to give up their own lives afterward. Enza’s “mission all along had been to give Ciro comfort, and in every way, she had succeeded, including making him go on this trip” back to the Italian Alps (424). Until the moment of his death, Enza’s love for Ciro abides. In the months and years that follow, she honors her and Ciro’s love by devoting herself to Antonio and to Angela Latini. Since she was a young girl, all that Enza has cared about has been family. She can’t return to her family in Italy, but she stays true to herself via her efforts to love and support her new family because “so much of life [is] about not holding on, but letting go” (422). Enza must let Ciro go, as she’s powerless to cure his illness. However, in the wake of his death, she doesn’t give up on her own life or her vows to protect her loved ones. Her, Antonio’s, and Angela’s relationship is evidence of her enduring love. The closing image of her lying in bed, sorting through her late husband’s personal effects and studying their wedding photo, reiterates this notion. She’s immersing herself in “the beauty of the past,” while allowing herself to feel the happiness of the present: In tandem, they come “full circle like a band of gold” (422). The image of the gold band recalls the image of a wedding ring and thus notions of marital vows and commitment. Enza and Ciro’s love will continue to endure via Enza’s relationships with the next generations of her family.
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