91 pages • 3 hours read
Jeff ZentnerGoodbye Days
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 36-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary
Carver goes to the Dearly show with Jesmyn. Georgia and her friends help get him ready, picking cool clothes for him to wear. Carver is so excited that he manages to forget about the accident and the legal investigation. In the car on the way to the show, Jesmyn surprises him by playing a recording of her playing music and singing. It’s an intimate moment. He asks for a copy of the recording.
Throughout the show, Carver is fixated on Jesmyn. At one point, he imagines Eli talking to him, telling him, “Here you are, man, using my ticket to go see a concert with my girlfriend after you sent the text that killed me. Why don’t you tell her you’re into her?” (309). After the show, Carver waits in line with Jesmyn to have Dearly sign a poster for her. She strikes up a conversation with the musician, telling him about Eli’s death and how a song Dearly dedicated to a friend of his who died in high school resonated with her. She also tells Dearly that she’s a musician herself and would love to play keyboard for him after she finishes college. He gives Jesmyn his manager’s business card, telling her to reach out after she’s finished school.
Watching this exchange, Carver gets jealous. His jealousy becomes apparent on the drive home, and he ends up confessing his feelings for her. She tells him she’s not ready for another relationship. The conversation becomes tense, escalating until Carver says, “Eli wasn’t that great” (318). Even as he’s saying these words, Carver knows he’s gone too far. Jesmyn leaves, telling Carver he might have had a chance but that he’s now blown it.
Chapter 37 Summary
Carver is heartbroken following his altercation with Jesmyn, describing it as “a new type of heartbreak” (322). She cuts off all contact, and he’s completely isolated at school. The police return his phone and laptop, and he considers calling or texting her, but she told him not to. His only spot of hope is his upcoming therapy appointment with Dr. Mendez.
Chapter 38 Summary
The district attorney holds a press conference and announces that her office will not pursue criminal charges. Carver watches the announcement at home with his parents. His attorney, Mr. Krantz, calls afterwards and warns him that Judge Edwards could still file a civil suit.
Shortly after, Carver gets a call from Judge Edwards. He tells Carver that he personally asked the district attorney not to pursue charges. Judge Edwards tells Carver he wants to have a “goodbye day” for Mars. He gives Carver strict instructions regarding date, time, and outfit. Carver agrees.
Chapter 39 Summary
At school the next day, Carver notices other students are friendlier towards him now that the district attorney’s office has decided not to prosecute. When he goes to his locker, however, someone has siphoned ashes into it and slipped a card with the word “MURDERER” on it inside. It’s undoubtedly Adair, bitter that Carver is off the hook. Carver leaves school immediately.
Chapter 40 Summary
Carver meets with Dr. Mendez. He tells him about the incident with Jesmyn. Dr. Mendez suggests Carver doesn’t feel worthy of being with Jesmyn and therefore sabotaged their friendship (and potential romance). Dr. Mendez suggests that Carver’s relationship with Jesmyn can be rekindled with: “Honesty. Humility. Listening more than you talk” (338).
Carver also tells Dr. Mendez about the district attorney’s announcement and about his phone call with Judge Edwards. When Carver asks Dr. Mendez how to handle this goodbye day, Dr. Mendez echoes his previous advice: “Be honest. Be humble. Listen more than you talk” (338).
Chapters 36-40 Analysis
With the blowup with Jesmyn, Carver’s character becomes even more isolated than before. This event highlights a fact suggested throughout the book’s treatment of grief, namely that it comes in many different forms and for many different reasons. Carver discovers that there are different types of heartache. This range parallels the diverse types of grief the book presents. There is Carver, mourning his lost friends, but there are also the parents mourning their sons and the siblings mourning their brothers. Each of these human relationships is unique, and each person’s grieving process will therefore be unique.
Carver’s falling out with Jesmyn not only leaves him more isolated, but it also removes one of the few soothing distractions he had left in his life. The night of the Dearly show seems to be the first time when Carver simply forgets about the accident and the investigation, indicating just how valuable Jesmyn’s company is for him. The narrative is interwoven with regular internal monologues in which Carver reflects on the accident and his dead friends and is also interspersed with flashbacks, dreams, and imaginary conversations. This structure makes it clear to the reader just how fixated the protagonist is on this traumatic event. Carver’s mind is consumed with it. Jesmyn offered a source of comfort and hope that is now gone.
The loss of this source of comfort makes the impending goodbye day with Judge Edwards even scarier, as Carver, the narrative’s protagonist, is left by himself to face down the scary “bad guy.” After all, Judge Edwards initially urged the district attorney to pursue an investigation, well knowing that it could end with Carver going to jail. The fact that the Judge has now requested the district attorney not to pursue charges is a surprise plot twist and adds more suspense to the upcoming goodbye day.
Although Carver is off the hook legally, he can’t shake his feelings of guilt. In fact, his guilt seems to worsen in light of the announcement: “I feel ungrateful to the gods of fate that I’m not happier about the blade of prosecution not dangling over my neck anymore” (333). He should be happy, but since he’s not, he feels ungrateful—something new to be guilty about.
The one bright spot in Carver’s life now that Jesmyn is gone is Dr. Mendez. This situation again highlights the utility of therapy, which the novel supports in its treatment of the mental health theme. Carver doesn’t even tell his parents about the goodbye day with Judge Edwards, but he does tell his therapist, who equips him with the “tools” he will need to get through the day. Dr. Mendez’s words—“Be honest. Be humble. Listen more than you talk” (338)—are a tool, a weapon that the book’s protagonist hero Carver will take with him into battle against the anti-hero, Judge Edwards.
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By Jeff Zentner
