50 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren OliverDelirium
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011A 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 12-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary
Lena runs into Hana on the way home from her job at her uncle’s convenience store one day in late July. Lena hates that their conversation is stilted and awkward since their fight. Hana reveals that she has been matched with the governor’s son, and Lena recognizes this development as the beginning of what will be their post-cure separate lives. She invites Hana to a movie, but Hana has plans to go to a party with another classmate. Lena is jealous and angry at their fractured friendship. Hana invites her to the party, but Lena refuses to go, and they part ways.
Chapter 13 Summary
Rachel and her husband, David, come over for dinner that evening. Lena only sees her sister four or five times a year but has stopped looking forward to her visits because of Rachel’s new restrained personality. After dinner, there is suddenly a raid, a random and violent home search conducted by regulators. People who resist or who are suspected of being sympathizers of the Invalids are detained and questioned. Eventually, those found to be sympathizers are either held in the Crypts (prisons) or executed. Lena’s house is skipped, but she fears for Hana and the other “uncured” people at the party.
Later that night, Lena sneaks out to the party to save Hana and warn the others of the impending raid. Grace witnesses her departure from the house but says nothing and goes back to sleep. Outside, Lena is dismayed to discover that her neighbor’s dog has been beaten to death by regulators. Lena vows not to stand for this kind of violence. She arrives at the party and is relieved to find that it has not been raided yet, but just as she begins to warn a partygoer, the regulators arrive and release attack dogs.
Chapter 14 Summary
The party is immediately thrown into chaos. Uncured people scream as dogs attack and the regulators beat up the partygoers. As Lena tries to escape, she is stunned by the sheer violence of the bloody scene and discovers a new hatred for the regulators and what they represent. A dog bites her leg, and just as a regulator is about to beat her with a baton, Alex saves her and helps her to escape outside. They hide in a small shed and wait for the raid to conclude. Alex uses his shirt to stop the heavy bleeding of Lena’s leg; she dazedly remarks that this is the first time she has seen a boy without a shirt on.
Alex apologizes for lying to her and tells her his story. He was born in the Wilds; both his parents are dead, and he was raised by the community of Invalids. At the age of 10, he moved inside the border as a spy for the resistance. He reveals that there are many secret sympathizers within the government who make it possible for Invalids to get in and out. He immediately hated living behind rules and walls, but when he spotted Lena slapping the Governor statue, he was mesmerized and reminded of freedom. She shares her desire to be “normal,” but he tells her she doesn’t have to be normal to be happy. They kiss passionately, and Lena decides that she wants to be with Alex despite her fears of the disease, because these new sensations make her happy. He walks her home, and they agree to meet the next day.
Chapter 15 Summary
Lena is aware now that she has most of the described symptoms of amor deliria nervosa, but she doesn’t care; she is infatuated. Still, she feels guilty for not knowing whether Hana is safe. She leaves a phone message for Hana before work. At the store, she finds it hard to focus as she looks forward to meeting Alex that evening. In the afternoon, Alex surprises her by coming into the store, which Lena finds thrilling. She secretly tells him to meet her in the supply room because she feels desperate to be near him.
However, while Lena waits in the supply room, Hana coincidentally arrives instead. She sobs and tells Lena about the violent raid at the party from which she escaped with a few scratches. Suddenly, Alex appears, and Hana becomes suspicious. Lena confesses everything; Hana is shocked but seems impressed by Lena’s behavior. When Alex tries to clean and bandage Lena’s injured leg, Hana corrects him, which Lena finds hilarious. Lena realizes they are now a team of three, together in this huge secret.
Chapter 16 Summary
Lena, Alex, and Hana sneak around together over the next few weeks, hanging out at secluded beaches and abandoned homes. They make one home with the address of “37 Brooks” into their chosen hangout spot and often picnic in the garden. Hana covers for Lena whenever she wants to be alone with Alex. Lena and Alex both share more of the secrets and pain of their pasts, and slowly Lena feels comfortable being more physical with Alex as well. He tells her about his home in the Wilds but is still secretive about his work with the resistance. Lena is falling in love and begins to see the world in a more beautiful way even as she dreads her approaching cure date in 30 days.
Chapter 17 Summary
When Lena mentions one day how much Alex must miss the Wilds, he suggests that they sneak across the city border for a night so Lena can see his home. Lena is afraid and skeptical, but Alex assures her that the network of hidden sympathizers can make it possible. Despite her anxiety, Lena decides to go in order to learn more about Alex, so they make a plan for the next night. Lena says she is sleeping over at Hana’s house, and a sympathizer married to a border guard slips Valium into her husband’s coffee, clearing the way for Alex and Lena to approach the electrified fence. Alex reveals that only small portions of the fence are actually electrified to keep the citizens under control. After fearfully crawling and hiding through brush and trees, Lena and Alex successfully make it over the barbed wire fence. Lena is then forced to confront all the lies the government has fed to her about the disease, its deadly consequences, and the dangers of the Wilds.
Chapters 12-17 Analysis
These chapters explore the power of physical touch in expressing love. Because physical touch is considered to be evidence of emotion, Lena has no experience with the act before this point in her life. This societal inhibition is demonstrated when Lena instinctively hugs Hana to comfort her after the raid, and Hana “tenses up” because “it’s very rare for [them] to hug, since it has always been discouraged” (247). As the story progresses, Lena is shown to further relax her observance of this taboo, for when she is injured and Alex provides medical assistance, she grabs his hand for support without thinking. Later, as their relationship progresses, Lena admits that she has become so used to physical contact with Alex that her desire to touch him is difficult to hide in public. As she says, “Nothing has ever been so painful or so delicious as being so close to him and being unable to do anything about it” (265). These moments are partly why Lena begins to understand Love as a Strength. She learns that touch can be comforting when given lovingly, and even the pain of not being able to do so is worth the joy it brings.
Lena is also confronted with the power of choice, especially in a society that provides so few choices for its citizens. She values Hana’s friendship because Hana is “the only person who’s ever really looked out for [her] by choice, not because of family obligation and duty and responsibility and all the other stuff that The Book of Shhh says is so important” (185). Because their friendship arises from a mutual, personal choice, that dynamic renders their relationship all the more meaningful, for unlike everything else in their lives, their friendship was not chosen for them. Other choices (e.g., to rebel, lie, sneak around, or touch another person) have more dangerous consequences, but Lena cares less and less about the societal dangers of these actions as the story progresses, emphasizing her increasing willingness to embrace a mindset of rebellion against the oppression that surrounds her. Kissing Alex and allowing herself to love thus becomes a conscious choice, and she declares, “This is what I want. This is the only thing I’ve ever wanted” (232). Every moment of being with Alex after that moment is another conscious choice, another small act of rebellion against the oppressive government. This active choice makes Lena bolder, more courageous, and more fully awakened as she discovers the hollowness of all the lies that the government perpetuates.
The most prominent lie that Lena has been told is that the cure is meant to keep people safe from disease and death. However, her interactions with Rachel reveal the truth: The procedure is a method of control and suppression. Rachel is no longer the loving, playful sister Lena grew up with but is instead unemotional, less affectionate, and more conforming. The change in her sister’s behavior stands as a stark reminder of Lena’s future fate if she goes through with her scheduled cure. Rachel’s changed personality also embodies The Fear of Growing Up, for Lena, like most teens, is afraid of leaving her childhood behind and transitioning into adulthood. Therefore, Lena’s gradual refusal to be like her sister highlights her growing anxiety about the future, which is exacerbated by the dystopian setting of the novel.
