I Am Legend: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Neville remembers a morning several years ago—the morning when Virginia’s heart stopped. On this morning, Neville sits beside Virginia in bed, weak and disoriented. For more than an hour, he sits next to his wife’s body, trembling and repeating her name.

On the morning Virginia’s heart stops, Neville thinks about the recent death of his daughter, Kathy. After Kathy’s death, Neville threw her body into the large burning pit—however, Neville refuses to do the same for Virginia.

Still in the flashback, Neville steps outside and runs over to his neighbor Ben Cortman’s house, intending to borrow Cortman’s car. He knocks on the door, but there’s no answer. Neville opens the door; inside the house, he finds Ben’s wife, Freda, asleep, with bite marks on her throat. He also sees Ben, asleep, with no bite marks. Disturbed, Neville finds Cortman’s car keys and runs out of the house. This is the last time he’ll see either Ben or Freda alive.

Neville sews Virginia into a blanket and carries her body to Cortman’s car. As he’s about to leave, a man down the street shouts, “Could you bring my mother too?” Neville explains that he’s not taking his wife’s body to the flaming pit, even though it’s the law to do so. He drives Virginia’s body to a cemetery, and buries her in the ground.

Two days after burying Virginia, Neville lies in bed, drunk and unkempt. He hears a knock at the door, opens the door, and sees Virginia, moaning, “Rob … ert.”