63 pages • 2 hours read
When the Wolf Comes Home
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Part 2, Chapters 23-33Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, graphic violence, child abuse, suicidal ideation, and disordered eating.
Part 2: “Yes and”
Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary
Jess scolds the boy for being so scared of the world, but she softens when she realizes that she is scaring him. She tells him that if he doesn’t control his abilities, people will get hurt. The boy shares his father’s observation that he is “too bad to be alive” (124). He talks about the friend he brought to life. The boy’s father killed the friend the boy made, saying that what he had done was dangerous. He made the boy watch so that he could understand that he wasn’t allowed to do it anymore.
Jess apologizes for her reaction, assuring the boy that she is just scared too. Jess recalls how, when she was a child, she was afraid of a lyric from the Ghostbusters theme song that suggested that there was an invisible man on her bed. She understands then why the boy’s father restricted him from reading books and watching television.
They drive to a motel, where Jess manages to get a corner room to stay in. Although the room is poorly maintained, Jess tries to convince the boy that the room is good, and the boy believes her.
