47 pages • 1 hour read
Graham SwiftWaterland
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1983A 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 46-50Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 46 Summary: “About My Grandfather’s Chest”
Tom and Dick open the trunk where they discover 11 bottles, one being the murder weapon, and a letter written by their grandfather years ago with the inscription: “To the First-Born of Mrs. Henry Crick” (320). Dick wants to know the contents of the letter, so Tom reads it to him.
After revealing who wrote the letter, Toms blurts out that the baby is really his, not Dick’s, and attempts to explain why that is good, since the letter says Dick shouldn’t have children. Tom’s explanation only further confuses Dick, so in a final attempt to make things better, Tom exclaims, “you’re going to be—the Saviour of the World” (323).
Dick flees. Tom and Henry see him ride away on his motorcycle, and Tom reveals that Dick “knows, Dad. Dick knows” (324). They both dread what Dick will do, as he has a sack of 10 bottles on his back and is heading for the dredger.
Chapter 47 Summary: “Goodnight”
Tom leaves his psychologically broken wife at the asylum. She grieves not for him but for the baby she had to return. She has legally been acquitted of all charges in the incident. Aware that she is forever lost to him, Tom suffers from insomnia; “to comfort himself he tells himself stories” (331).
Chapter 48 Summary: “And Adieu”
Lewis conducts the formal farewell ceremony for Tom, imploring those in attendance to “look to the past and give due credit to his long and valued service” (332). Suddenly a few in the back begin to yell, “Fear is here! Fear is here!” (333), and despite Lewis’s attempts to ignore them, they do not relent. When Tom steps up to speak, however, the racket subsides, save for Price’s interjection: “No cuts! Keep Crick!” (335).
Chapter 49 Summary: “About Empire-Building”
In reverie, Tom remembers the French Revolution. The children overthrew the powers in control only to discover a “bare and comfortless” (335) world, so they turned to Napoleon Bonaparte to save them. Tom then expounds on the ideas of civilization, the end of the world, and progress.
Chapter 50 Summary: “The Whole Story”
Tom describes Henry Crick’s last days as a confused old man on his deathbed after Atkinson Lock Cottage was destroyed by a flood that displaced him and uprooted his sense of reality. Mary nurses him, and although Henry wants to speak, Tom discourages him from doing so. In the end, however, Henry draws them close and attempts to tell “The Whole Story” (337).
Chapters 46-50 Analysis
Chapter 46 is all about explanations, revelations, and attempts at reparation between Tom and Dick. Ironically, and typical in this work, light shed on subjects produces darkness, so impending tragedy seems imminent. In Chapter 47, a metaphorical night finally arrives when mental illness exacerbated by sin and guilt leaves Mary with few choices for redemption, and her surrender to lust and envy determines her complete downfall. Tom’s sanity remains in the balance, as he escapes further into his own personal savior—storytelling.
Chapter 48 revisits the theme of unconditional acceptance when, instead of revolting against their leader, Price and the students rally to “Keep Crick!” His “children” have embraced his stories—public and private, historical and present-day, joyful and tragic—and him as a result. Chapter 49 foreshadows a future that never changes and only returns to the past. The notion that time actually progresses is a lie. Things may look new, but they’re only repurposed to fit the moment. Real revolution is impossible.
Chapter 50 describes a bleak picture of death and last-minute attempts at redemption through confession when Henry finally decides to release his demons. During the only glimpse of Mary during her marriage, she finds a “calling” in nursing her father-in-law but “has no illusions” (342) about death. When she proclaims that “Prayers won’t help you. And miracles won’t happen” (341), Mary is not only stating that religion is impotent, she’s underscoring the inevitability of death, which is tied to the land’s impotence in the face of fate, and her own impotence after the abortion.
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