Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Secrets and Lies
Memory and the Past
Difference and Prejudice
Families Born and Made
Summary
Analysis
On a spring evening, Caroline stands on the street waiting for the bus. She is on her way to an art opening downtown. She arrives at the museum where it’s being held and looks up at the banner fluttering over the entrance: “MIRROR IMAGES,” it reads; “PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID HENRY.” Caroline trembles as she heads up the steps into the building, merging with the large crowd pouring into the museum.
Caroline prepares to confront David Henry in public. Years of letters and money exchanged has perhaps not been enough for her—she wants to look the man in the face after all these years and see who he is now.
Themes
Caroline proceeds into a large gallery room and finds herself face-to-face with his most famous photograph—a picture of Norah on the beach, dwarfed by large sand dunes. Caroline has had a singular image of Norah in her mind for years, but is now forced to confront the fact that Norah is “a woman she ha[s] never known.”
The image of Norah on the beach—so loaded with David’s desire to let Norah disappear into the larger landscape of his life and his obsession with his art—is his most famous work. It’s fitting that this photograph makes Caroline realize that she doesn’t know Norah—the photograph resulted from David’s inability to see Norah for who she is, so Caroline certainly wouldn’t be able to know Norah from looking at it.
Themes
Applause rings out as David Henry enters the room, stands in front of the crowd, and gives a short speech. The two of them lock eyes as he begins, but his attention is not broken. Caroline, however, barely focuses on what he’s saying, distracted by the ways in which his face has changed over the decades. After David’s speech, Caroline approaches a small group of press gathered in front of him. David smiles at her blithely, not recognizing her. She places her hand on his arm and asks if he truly doesn’t remember her—as they lock eyes once more, she watches recognition wash over David’s face.
The fact that David—such an important force in Caroline’s life and thoughts—doesn’t recognize her surely stings her a little bit. It shows her that, though David looms large in her consciousness, she might not necessarily take up much space in his. They are on uneven footing.
Themes
David hurries Caroline away into another room where they can talk privately. David asks if Caroline has been living in Pittsburgh all this time, and she remarks that she wasn’t all that hard to find. She acknowledges that she “wanted to be lost,” but says that David probably didn’t look for her very hard himself. As Caroline looks at David and sees how much he’s changed, she realizes that’s she has “held him in her mind all this time like a photograph.”
Though David insists that he’s looked for Caroline, she knows that Al was able to track her down—if David had really wanted to find her and Phoebe and reconnect with them, he would have.
Themes
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Caroline tells David that she was once in love with him—David says he knows, and apologizes for using that knowledge to coerce her into doing his bidding and taking Phoebe away. Caroline tries to push down the anger she feels as David asks how Phoebe’s doing, and whether the two of them are happy. Caroline asks David if he “really want[s] to know,” considering that, with one exception, he never wrote a letter. David retorts that when Caroline herself stopped writing, he felt “like [she’d] slammed a door” on him. Caroline admits she never thought David actually read her letters.
David admits that he preyed upon Caroline’s feelings in order to coerce her into doing his bidding—and carrying out a decision that would change both their lives forever. Caroline and David have their own issues to work out—though they were never lovers, there is a lot of pain between them, and there are things they wanted from each other that they never pushed hard enough to get.
Themes
David asks again whether Caroline and Phoebe are happy, and whether Phoebe is in good health. Caroline replies that Phoebe is perfectly healthy—and her heart is fine. She tells David that Phoebe has a cat named Rain, and loves to sing and weave. She tells him that Phoebe goes to public school—an opportunity Caroline “[fought] like hell” for. Caroline admits that she doesn’t know what the future holds—but she says that while in giving Phoebe up, David has missed a lot of heartache, he’s also “missed a lot of joy.” David grimly says he already knows that to be true. He tells Caroline briefly about his own life, but the curator of the show enters the room and summons David to rejoin the party.
David tried to stave off the pain of losing Phoebe—and the burden of caring for a child with a disability. Caroline, in this scene, almost tries to rub David’s face in the pain he’s caused himself. Raising Phoebe is hard, she admits, but it brings more joy than pain—and she wants David to know that he has denied himself the chance to get to know a special person. Caroline remains hurt and angry about the ways in which people judge and dismiss Phoebe—and doesn’t want to let David off easy for doing so himself.
Themes
David begs Caroline to wait for him to finish talking to a few people—he wants to know more about what he’s missed, and offers to take her to dinner. Caroline doesn’t answer—instead, she reaches into her purse and pulls out an envelope filled with photographs of Phoebe. Caroline watches David mill about the main room for a minute, but then hurries out of the museum and heads for home.
Caroline gives photographs to David, knowing how important they are to him. For all the lingering resentment she has towards him, she wants him to have a piece of Phoebe—if only so he realizes the full weight of all he’s missed in abandoning her.
Themes
As Caroline approaches her house, she watches Phoebe weaving at her loom through the downstairs window. She thinks about the life they’ve built together with Al—and is surprised to see him, too, through the window. He’s come home early from a trip, she guesses, to surprise them. Filled with warmth and gratitude for the life she has, Caroline climbs the steps to the front porch and goes inside.
Caroline wanted to see David in order to experience a part of her past—but as she returns home, she realizes that all she needs is right here. She has made a family against all odds, and there’s no one else’s time, attention, or approval she wants.
Themes
