The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

In the novel’s final section, Lenni and Margot say goodbye, but the stories and friendship they shared live on. Soon after Lenni’s time at Princess Royal Hospital began, her father agreed to stop visiting her on the condition that she’d allow him to say goodbye before she died. His visit in Chapter 67 establishes that she’s near the end. Lenni’s efforts to set her father free succeeded because he has created a happy life for himself. He and Agnieszka are still together and are expecting a child. In addition, the chapter supports the theme of The Power of Friendship. Even in her confused state, Lenni thinks about Margot and, in a state of confusion, reveals the strength of their relationship by calling the woman her mother.

Chapter 68 further develops the theme of friendship. Margot worries about letting her best friend down by failing to complete the paintings in time, and Pippa and her students step up to help her achieve her goal. The art class’s haste and collaboration show that they care deeply for Lenni and that her time draws short. As significant as the paintings are, however, they’re a motif for the theme of The Importance of Sharing Stories, and Margot places great importance on not just finishing the artwork but also sharing the memories they represent with Lenni. Lenni is responsible for 17 paintings because of her age, but Margot insists that Lenni’s contribution represents “half.” Lenni’s existence may be shorter, but her life and her stories mean as much as Margot’s.

In Chapters 68 and 69, Margot’s memories turn again to Humphrey and Meena. She acknowledges that she took Humphrey for granted, and this guilt no doubt influenced her decision to always wear purple as a sign of mourning for him. However, Humphrey loved and accepted her completely and wanted her to be happy. His encouragement led Margot to reconnect with Meena. The forest metaphor in Margot’s letter is fitting. At first, the distance and obstacles between the women seemed small, but it had been so many years that it felt almost impossible for them to be close. In Chapter 69, Margot tells Lenni how she and Meena got busy “burning the forest down” when they reunited in Vietnam (299). At last, Meena told Margot that she loved her. The words she never could form in English came bursting out of her in Vietnamese. The chapter contains a stylistic use of perspective as Lenni imagines herself in this story while Margot tells it to her. In a parallel between Margot’s memory and her present, Chapter 69 is also the first time Lenni and Margot say they love each other.

Chapter 70 marks the novel’s climax, the achievement of Lenni and Margot’s goal. Lenni’s friends surprise her with a birthday party to celebrate the completion of the 100 paintings. The Swedish birthday song always saddened her with its reminder of mortality, but, with Margot’s help, she made it to 100 just like in the song. For most of her life, Lenni felt loneliness, but many people who love her gather together to celebrate her life, including Margot, Pippa, Father Arthur, New Nurse, and Paul the Porter. The girl who struggled to make friends in school is now surrounded by those who cherish her. Lenni’s joyful spirit brightened her friends’ lives, and they do the same for her by bringing a light that “stayed long after they’d gone” (302). This light connects to the symbol of stars and finding joy amid difficulty. Lenni muses that her life has been both long and short. In the literal, chronological sense, her time is brief, but her life is long because of the way she lived it and all the lives she touched. The exhibition of the paintings at the gallery offers a way for Lenni and Margot’s stories to reach even more people.

Curiously, Chapter 71, in which Lenni passes away, is simply titled “Margot.” The pain that Father Arthur, New Nurse, and Margot feel is a testament to their love for Lenni and the profound impact she had on their lives. The chapter touches on the theme of The Importance of Sharing Stories. Margot doesn’t know how to say goodbye, so she creates a story in which Lenni has a long and happy life. This is similar to the story she told Davey as he died, which is both poignant and fitting because she thinks of Lenni as her child, too. Throughout the novel, Father Arthur and Lenni talk about faith. Their conversations on the subject conclude with her asking whether she’ll go to Heaven, and he masters his pain to make her smile one last time. Father Arthur knows his vivacious friend well enough to know that she’d be bored somewhere totally peaceful, so he tells her to give heaven hell.

In Chapter 72, Margot identifies the irony in the peaceful, quiet end of her friend, who loved chaos and commotion. Lenni’s death strikes Margot so hard that she feels as though she has lost not only her friend but also her own identity. She feels as if she and Father Arthur are reduced to “[s]urrogate parents robbed of a real daughter” (305). They both loved Lenni like family, and they were there for her when her biological parents weren’t, but other people will likely find it hard to comprehend their closeness and the depth of their loss. Although Father Arthur is retired from hospital chaplaincy, he consoles Margot as they cry together.

Chapter 73 explores the themes of friendship and storytelling. It contains several flashbacks because Margot feels lost after Lenni’s death and doesn’t know what to do besides finish telling her story. In 2000, Meena and Margot shared a few months together in Vietnam. Although this time was brief, it gave Margot the answers and closure she needed. In 2003, Margot visited Davey’s grave for the first time in 50 years, confronting her loss and fear of failure. Margot finds more closure at the care home in 2011 when Thomas tells her that Johnny had a happy life, validating her decision to free him.

The narrative reveals that the letter Lenni helped Margot retrieve at the start of the novel contains a marriage proposal from Meena. As the narrative returns to the present, Margot’s conversation with Father Arthur touches on the novel’s third major theme, Finding Acceptance and Forgiveness. Because of Margot’s experiences with religion, she expects Arthur to condemn her for loving a woman. Instead, he encourages her to be with Meena.

Chapter 74 presents Margot’s farewell to Lenni, and her words are full of gratitude, love, and friendship. She appreciates Lenni’s gifts to her, including her diary, her stuffed pig, and, most of all, her companionship. In addition, Lenni and Margot give back to the Rose Room because their exhibition at the gallery will raise funds for the art therapy program. Cronin chooses not to reveal whether Margot survives the surgery and marries Meena, instead having Margot observe that either life or death would be “the greatest adventure” (322). This open-ended resolution underscores the author’s point that how long someone lives is far less important than how someone lives.

In Chapter 75, Lenni’s final diary entry brings the novel full circle by returning to the image of an airport terminal from Chapter 1. Lenni is grateful for Margot’s friendship and contributes to the novel’s symbolism by wishing her another 100 years of life. Lenni overcame her fear of death before the end, and her words seem to convey reassurance that others can be ready when their time comes too.