The Nightingale: Chapter 31 Summary & Analysis

The returns to 1995 in Oregon. Currently, the unnamed narrator is sitting in an airport, waiting for her plane to France. She strikes up a conversation with a young, tattooed girl sitting next to her. The narrator tells the girl that she is either running away from something or finally returning to what she ran away from; she is not sure which. In response, the tattooed girl says that she is running away as well.

Just before the narrator’s plane starts boarding, Julien shows up and tells his mother that he is going to Paris with her. At this point, the narrator realizes there is nothing she can do to stop him. Together, they board the plane, and Julien helps his mother with her luggage. Although she is glad for her son’s help, the narrator feels that she must always appear strong in front of him because that is a mother’s job. As Julien sits down next to his mother on the plane, he asks her what she is hiding from him. He knows that there is something that she wants to tell him but won’t. The narrator tells Julien that she doesn’t want to talk about it yet.