Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nightingale, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Morality and Impossible Choices
Antisemitism and Active Resistance
Gender Roles
Love and War
Summary
Analysis
Isabelle and Madame Babineau make it to the Red Cross station in Paris. Madame Babineau walks Isabelle to the train station and sends her on her way to Carriveau. Isabelle is still quite ill, and she’s no longer person she was when the war began; she wonders how she will be able to move forward.
Finally, Isabelle is on her way home. However, she returns a changed woman. Isabelle is ill from her treatment in the concentration camp, and her mind and body are shattered. Like Vianne, she does not know how to return to normal.
Themes
Isabelle arrives in Carriveau to find Vianne waiting for her. Vianne hugs Isabelle and for the first time she truly feels like she has survived the war. Vianne takes Isabelle home and cares for her. Isabelle apologizes for the events that led to Beck’s death, and Vianne apologizes for the many times she thinks she has failed Isabelle. Both sisters decide to start fresh and leave the past behind. They also compliment each other on their bravery. Both women have a sense of what the other has gone through, which makes them deeply respect each other.
In a touching scene, the novel's two protagonists reunite. Finally, the sisters get to say everything they’ve always wanted to say to each other. The war helped them appreciate each other's strengths and realize they must forgive each other's flaws.
Themes
Unfortunately, Isabelle is not doing well. She is regularly coughing up blood and doesn’t seem to be getting better. A few days after her return, Isabelle goes outside barefoot in the snow and watches the Allied troops drive through Carriveau. For some reason, she thinks that Gaëtan is on his way to find her. When Vianne sees Isabelle out in the snow, she pulls her inside and does her best to warm her back up. But Isabelle only seems to be getting worse and increasingly delirious.
Isabelle's behavior is strange given her weakened mental and physical state. However, it is fitting that Isabelle can watch the Allied troops drive into the town she so bravely defended. Really, the only thing Isabelle wants at this point is to reunite with Gaëtan, though it doesn't seem like she will survive with or without him.
Themes
Once Isabelle is back in bed, Vianne reads a letter Julien gave to her before he died. The letter expresses Julien’s love for his daughters and his sorrow that he could not be a better father to them. Isabelle says that she has been searching for her father’s approval for her entire life, but now that she has it, all she can feel is loss.
Isabelle’s reaction to Julien’s letter demonstrates how the war simultaneously brought the family together and ripped them apart. Indeed, it would be hard to feel anything other than loss, given the context in which Julien wrote the letter.
Themes
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The following week, Gaëtan arrives in Carriveau and goes to see Isabelle. Isabelle worries that Gaëtan will not think she is pretty because of what she endured in the concentration camps. However, as soon as she lays eyes on him, all her worries fade, and they embrace each other. While in Gaëtan’s arms, Isabelle thinks to herself, “don’t forget me.”
Before Isabelle’s death, she finally receives the visit she has been waiting for. She reunites with her lover one last time, and although the reunion is brief, it means everything. Isabelle's greatest fear is that people will forget her, but the novel’s title suggests that she does not need to worry about this.
Themes
