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
Norah and Bree are sitting on a stone bench in the gardens at the Louvre museum in Paris, waiting for Paul. They have made a plan to meet Paul, who is traveling in Europe with his flautist girlfriend. Apart from this plan, made months ago, before Paul left for Europe, Norah has known nothing of his itinerary—and so has been unable to reach him the last few weeks to let him know that David has died after being struck by a “massive heart attack” during a run. Paul has missed the funeral—he and David “never really resolved” the issues between them.
Ironically, David has died of a heart attack. He was so devastated by June’s heart-related death that he pushed Phoebe away, believing she was destined from birth for a similar fate. All along, it was he who was fated to die of a matter of the heart—a metaphor for the ways in which David’s secrets and lies weighed on him too heavily for him to sustain any longer. .
Themes
Norah’s boyfriend Frederic, who works for IBM, is working in the countryside for the day, and so she and Bree are meeting Paul alone. Bree touches Norah’s shoulder and tells her that once Paul arrives, she’ll “slip away” so that Norah can deliver the news privately. Norah thanks Bree for her discretion, and for all the help planning David’s funeral. Though the two of them have been divorced for six years, Norah felt responsible for putting a memorial service together for him—and hundreds of people, many of them patients at David’s new clinic, showed up to mourn him.
Through it all, Bree has been there for Norah—though now Norah is the one with the free spirit and the wandering heart, traveling the world with her lover. Norah mourns David, and after all these years she felt, at the time of his death, not resentment but the desire to help the community that loved him mourn him as well.
Themes
Norah spots Paul walking across the garden, and stands up to hug him. Bree embraces him, too, but then says she has to be off. As Bree walks away, Norah begins to cry. Paul asks her what’s wrong, and she asks him to sit with her on the bench. She tells him that David died nine days ago of a heart attack, and watches grief and confusion spread across Paul’s face. She tells him that the funeral was last week, and apologizes that there was no time to track him down before the service. Paul admits that he is shocked by how much he “care[s]” that David is dead. Norah tells Paul that David loved him, no matter their differences—he just had “a very hard time revealing himself to anyone.”
Paul’s reaction to David’s death shows that, although the two of them had a relationship when he died, they were never able to repair the full extent of the damage done in Paul’s youth—Paul feels he never really knew his father, and his emotions upon hearing of his death are shock and confusion rather than grief and sorrow.
Themes
Norah tells Paul that she empathizes with the feelings he must be having—that there was “a wall too high to get over” between David and the two of them. Still, she assures him that David loved them both very much. Paul cries softly, and asks Norah if she is going to marry Frederic. Norah loves Frederic deeply, and the two of them have a lot in common—they’re both divorced with grown children, and both have demanding jobs. Norah is deeply attracted to Frederic, and just thinking of him makes her feel warm inside. Still, she wonders if she should marry him—but now she admits to Paul that she can indeed see building a life with him, and that she knows herself better now than she did when she embarked upon her first marriage.
As Norah reflects on her dead ex-husband, she laments that she could never quite get close to him despite the promising start to their marriage. Now that she is older, she’s a better advocate for herself—and she believes that if she chooses to marry Frederic, she’ll be doing so out of true love rather than the mere desire to be taken care of.
Themes
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Norah notices Paul’s face brighten, and watches as he waves to a slender, graceful woman across the park. Paul tells Norah that the woman is his girlfriend, Michelle, and he goes over to greet her before bringing her over to meet Norah. The three of them talk for a while, but when Paul invites Norah to dinner she declines—as much as she wants to spend time with her son, she senses a “restlessness” in him. Norah says she’ll meet Paul for breakfast in the morning instead, and then he and Michelle walk her to the metro.
Norah, who was once so afraid of losing Paul, growing distant from him, or having anything bad happen to him, has now learned that her son is his own person—he needs to be able to have his own freedom and make his own choices (and mistakes.)
Themes
It is dusk by the time Norah gets back to the hotel where she and Frederic are staying. She goes out to the courtyard, orders a glass of wine, and waits for Frederic. When he arrives, they catch up on their days. Norah tells Frederic that she broke the news about David’s death to Paul, and that Paul is in love. The two of them order dinner, and as Norah considers how far she’s come in life, she feels deeply at peace and incredibly alive.
Though Norah is saddened by David’s death, at the end of the day, she’s ultimately just grateful for the life she has—and for the fact that whatever thorns grew up between her and David, she was able to hack her way out of them and begin anew on her own terms.
Themes
