51 pages • 1 hour read
Jodi PicoultThe Book of Two Ways
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Land/Egypt”
Dawn is having a dream about Brian when Wyatt wakes her up at 4:30 in the morning. She is worried that her knowledge is too outdated, and that she will not be useful at the dig. When they arrive at the site, she sees the location of the new tomb, and cannot understand how they had never found it before. Inside, she is immediately intrigued. Wyatt directs her to make a paleography or study of some hieroglyphs, using an iPad. Dawn is astonished at how quickly she can work digitally, as opposed to when, as a student, she had to do everything by hand. She quickly gets absorbed in her work, remembering the joy of it.
One night, when Dawn and Wyatt were students, the dig team was celebrating. Although they had always been competitive, that night they connected. They played Truth or Dare, and shared their histories and memories. They kissed, but Dawn broke it off and ran away.
When the dig team finally takes a break, it is only mid-morning, but Dawn is exhausted. As everyone goes back to work, Wyatt holds Dawn back. She thinks he is going to chastise her for poor work, but he compliments her instead. He tells her that he has come to believe her early theories that the placement of the text and iconography in ancient Egyptian tombs is important to their meaning. Dawn asks why the donor supporting the dig is not there for the excavation, and Wyatt is evasive. Dawn texts Meret that she loves and misses her, and asks for her forgiveness.
The morning after Dawn and Wyatt kissed in the past, they were the only two at the Dig House. She confronted him at the dig site and they argued about the kiss; then, Dawn saw something on a nearby rock, a dipinto, a message in ink. They translated it, and realized that it referenced an undiscovered tomb. It was an amazing discovery, and yet, because they were at the site without permission, they could not tell anyone. The next day, when they are there legally, they arrange to “find” it again, in such a way that they will both get credit for the discovery.
The team celebrated that night, and Dawn and Wyatt slipped away from the party. They talked about looking for the tomb together, and Dawn saw a future for them as a team. The next morning Dawn overslept, and Wyatt stayed behind as well. He told Dumphries that they were hungover, and because of their discovery, he gave them the day off. When Dawn tried to withdraw from their new relationship, Wyatt refused to let her, giving her a piece of limestone with a hieroglyphic message.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Water/Boston”
Although they are still struggling, Dawn and Brian maintain their life, especially in front of Meret. Dawn continues to care for Win and takes her to the art museum one day, where Win explains modern art to her. They talk about their marriages and Win tells her about Arlo, her son who died three years ago. When Win shows Dawn her studio, many of the paintings are of Arlo, but Dawn finds one which is not in Win’s style. Instead, Win is the subject of the nude. Dawn asks who painted it, and Win will not answer. When Felix comes home, Dawn tells him that Win spoke of Arlo. Felix tells her that Arlo was not his biological son—Arlo was six years old when Felix met Win.
That night, Meret is supposed to go to a dance for her STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp, but feels self-conscious again. Dawn helps her pick out an outfit, lends her shoes, and does her makeup, and Meret goes to the dance. Brian and Dawn go to Brian’s faculty dinner, where everyone, including the dean’s wife, is interested in what Dawn does for a living. Dawn and Brian argue because he is upset with Dawn for talking about death. She runs out of the house, and he finds her sitting on the curb, crying. They apologize to each other and go home, enjoying the peace after their argument. Meret comes home crying because some boys had made fun of her, and her friend, instead of standing up for her, joined in. Dawn calms Meret down, and when she goes back downstairs, Brian blames Dawn for sending Meret to the dance.
When Dawn visits Win the next day, they do guided death meditation. Dawn calls Meret twice, but Meret is short with her. When she gets home, Brian has left a trail of lit candles to their bedroom, which is filled with photos of their loved ones. He tells her she is the center of his universe. After they have sex, they apologize to each other again. Dawn is woken up by a call from a client who is dying. She leaves, not returning until the next morning.
When she goes to Win’s house again, Dawn checks in with Felix. As a caregiver, he is going through a difficult time, and it is her job to watch over him as well. Win asks Dawn to take her to the park in her wheelchair. They talk about Win’s legacy and how to best represent it. Win tells Dawn about Arlo’s father, her married art professor in Paris, with whom she had an affair as a student. When she found out she was pregnant, she came home, and met and married Felix a few years later. She tells Dawn that she wants to write to Arlo’s father, Thane, and wants Dawn to deliver the letter to him. Dawn asks if she will tell Felix, but Win does not want to hurt him. Dawn encourages Win to think it over. When she goes home, Dawn digs through the attic and finds her old Egyptology texts, locating a familiar love poem in one of the books.
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
In Chapter 5, Wyatt reveals that he has spent the past 15 years looking for the tomb referenced on the dipinto that he and Dawn discovered together. Once again, Picoult highlights the way in which Wyatt and Dawn’s relationship is inextricably intertwined with their work. The passion they feel for each other is reflected by the passion they both feel for Egyptology, and they also connect intellectually.
In Chapter 6, Dawn and Win go to the art museum, and Win explains modern art to Dawn. Picoult shows that the relationship between Dawn and Win is deepening—they are creative, intellectual, passionate women, and they both have pasts to contend with. Dawn understands the ways in which they are alike even more deeply when Win finally opens herself up completely, showing Dawn her painting studio. Dawn learns that Arlo’s life was troubled, and his death heartbreaking. Dawn understands Win in a new way, as a woman who has a past, much like herself, but also as a woman who struggled with how best to love and care for her child, another lesson for Dawn on Evolving Parenthood.
Dawn’s relationship with her own child, Meret, is beginning to shift. They have a moment of connection when Dawn helps Meret get ready for the dance, and Dawn shows a willingness to engage with Meret’s issues. Yet Dawn still doesn’t address Meret’s feelings directly; instead, she tries to make her feel better without having an honest conversation about Meret’s body image issues. While Dawn is making progress to support Meret and bring them closer, she still has some way to go.
When Win tells Dawn about Thane, and asks her to deliver a letter, Dawn faces a dilemma. As Win’s death doula, Win is her focus and responsibility. Dawn’s purpose is to respect the client’s wishes, and to help Win accomplish whatever she needs to do before she dies. Dawn is ethically bound to do what Win asks of her, and yet, she cannot help but worry about Thane’s family, Felix, and the destruction the letter might unleash. This parallels her own dilemma later in the novel, the way revelations about her past life and Wyatt might affect her family.
Win and Dawn grow closer, build their friendship, and become more honest and vulnerable with every meeting. They spend a lot of time discussing Living With Death. In one conversation, Win wonders, “What is death going to do to me?” Dawn reminds her that death is an act: “Death doesn’t just happen to us. In fact, there’s no passive voice in the English language for it. It’s an action verb. You have to die” (192). Picoult uses these moments between Dawn and Win to probe the meaning of mortality. Dawn recognizes a duality in life and death; they are not separate things, but “heads and tails. You can’t have one without the other” (193). Dawn draws on her past as an Egyptologist to convey her thoughts about death: “But I remember that what fascinated me most about the Book of Two Ways was how comforting it would be to have a map to reach the afterlife. Even the Ancient Egyptians recognized that knowledge was the difference between a good death and a bad one” (211). Once Dawn begins to rediscover her interest in Egyptology, she sees how it intertwines with her career as a death doula.
When Dawn goes to Brian’s faculty dinner, Picoult explores societal views of death. Dawn comments how those who do what she does are, in other people’s eyes, “suddenly a saint” (202). This is one of the rare scenes in the book that shows Dawn interacting with a wider slice of American society, and Picoult uses it to illustrate the attitudes around dying in the West. Dawn also makes the point that the reactions she gets in this scene are common.
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