65 pages • 2 hours read
M. R. CareyThe Girl with All the Gifts
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A 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 23-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary
As the survivors flee the base, the Humvee rattles and groans, and Parks fears damage to the rear axle. About 10 miles out and with no sign of pursuit, he pulls into an empty field to assess their situation. For the first time since leaving the base, he realizes Melanie is crouching in the back seat, naked and bald with eyes like a cornered animal. He draws his sidearm and points it at her, but Justineau comes between them. Melanie is not a danger at the moment, she argues, so just let her wander free. He agrees, and Melanie leaps from the vehicle, desperate to escape the temptation of the flesh around her. Caldwell, however, wants Melanie—her last hope of salvaging four years of research—restrained and brought with them. While Justineau and Caldwell debate, Parks goes out to examine the Humvee’s axle.
Chapter 24 Summary
Huddled amid a field of wildflowers, Melanie tries to calm the residual hunger she feels as well as reconcile the horror of her own feeding frenzy. She also recalls that when she was strapped to the exam table, a hungry loomed over her for a terrifying moment but moved on without attacking. The memory is haunting and strange, but the myriad sights, sounds, and smells around her pull her into the present; the new sensory input is intoxicating.
Miss Justineau approaches and asks Melanie how she’s doing. Melanie warns her to keep some distance; the memory of the taste of flesh is still too recent and powerful. She considers the question of her true nature, but she doesn’t ask Justineau, afraid of the answer.
Chapter 25 Summary
Parks inspects the Humvee and finds a bent and cracked axle. He fears it won’t last much longer. He convenes a meeting and advocates heading south to Beacon, but Caldwell and Justineau want to go back to the base to retrieve research and the kids, respectively. Parks argues that it’s too dangerous and that no one, kids or soldiers, is still alive there. After a vigorous debate, he finally agrees to bring Melanie along, but she must ride on the roof.
Chapter 26 Summary
Justineau offers Melanie the opportunity to roam free with her own kind, but Melanie only wants to be with her teacher. She agrees to ride on the roof of the Humvee, too afraid of Dr. Caldwell and too terrified of her own hunger to risk riding inside. She is also aware that her cell, the only home she has ever known, is gone forever. However, as long as she and Miss Justineau are together, she feels everything will be okay—even the answers to the questions she’s afraid to ask about herself.
Chapter 27 Summary
Heading south, the group loads up on fresh water from a stream while Melanie bathes, washing Caldwell’s lab gel off her body. They locate a supply cache buried in the ground, but it’s empty. They take inventory of the supplies in the Humvee: plenty of weapons and first aid supplies, but not enough food or “e-blocker,” the chemical that masks human scent. Justineau cleans and dresses Caldwell’s hands (deeply sliced from the broken glass she used to defend herself). They climb into the Humvee, Melanie on the roof, and head for Beacon. After five miles, however, the axle breaks. They climb out of the useless vehicle, load supplies into backpacks, and begin the 70-mile trek on foot. The reality hits Justineau now—for the first time since the Breakdown, she is exposed and vulnerable.
As long as Melanie is with them, Parks insists on restraining her, and Melanie agrees for everyone’s safety. When they restrain her legs, Justineau objects, claiming she wouldn’t be able to run from danger. Caldwell replies that Melanie is in no danger because she’s already clinically dead. Justineau punches her in the face for her remark. With Caldwell silenced for the moment, the party sets out on foot.
Chapter 28 Summary
Melanie absorbs the beautiful and damaged world as they traverse it: fields overgrown with weeds, cracked and cratered roads, boarded-up homes with collapsed roofs. Parks, meanwhile, struggles with logistical decisions. If they sleep out in the open, the hungries will detect their body heat and swarm. If they seek shelter in a village or town, they are even more likely to encounter hungries. They have to stay on the roads because the fields are so overgrown, but the roads take them straight through the towns. Caldwell tries to stay optimistic about her work despite the loss of her notes and lab samples. She also resolves to see Justineau court-martialed for her interference. Private Gallagher, who comes from a family of violent alcoholics, has tried to live a life of abstinence and common sense, but now that life is threatened before he’s old enough to enjoy it. He fears bad luck has doomed him to die out in the wilderness. With a grenade hidden in his pocket, he resolves to end his own life before a hungry or a junker does. Lastly, Justineau thinks about humanity’s legacy of barbarism and the many children it has killed. The collective guilt weighs on her and motivates her to keep at least one child safe.
Chapters 23-28 Analysis
Robbed of the speed and protection of the Humvee, the survivors have to flee on foot. A straightforward two-hour journey has become a multiday trek through a minefield of dangers: hungries, junkers, lack of food, and their own interpersonal conflicts. The immediate threat of death, rather than uniting them, pushes them deeper into their own ideological corners. Justineau resolves to protect Melanie at all costs, even resorting to physical violence against Caldwell. Dr. Caldwell, in danger of losing her life’s work, is equally determined to use Melanie as her final research subject. Parks only wants to reach Beacon with everyone intact, making him (ironically, given his general temperament) the member of the group most likely to compromise; he agrees to let Melanie ride along if only to avoid a protracted argument with Justineau, which would surely cost them precious time.
Meanwhile, Melanie’s self-awareness only grows as she goes deeper into unknown territory, both physical and emotional. As she begins to recognize her own deadly nature and the threat she poses, she willingly agrees to ride on the roof of the Humvee and, later, to be shackled and muzzled. She is able to make the moral decision to sacrifice her own well-being for the safety of the group (or at least, for the safety of Justineau). This kind of ethical distinction marks her as more than an unconscious killing machine and lends weight to Justineau’s staunch defense of her.
Apart from the horror—and delight—of her own insatiable hunger, the other component of Melanie’s awakening is her introduction to the outside world. Raised in a confined, sterilized environment, Melanie has only experienced nature via the few flowers and twigs Justineau has brought into the classroom. Surrounded by the unfettered growth of the natural world, Melanie’s senses are overwhelmed—a typical (and quite human) reaction for anyone robbed of such sensory input for most of their life. In fact, the sublime beauty of nature and the intense pleasure of raw flesh are the yin and yang of Melanie’s self-realization. She is repulsed by her behavior while simultaneously recognizing it as inherent to her nature—a complex, cognitive self-knowledge that demonstrates higher-level brain function. Her ability to appreciate the beauty of a flower further distinguishes her from the hungries who operate purely on instinct. Between Caldwell’s insistence that Melanie is a mere feeding machine and Melanie’s demonstration of her own self-awareness, Carey hints at a future confrontation between the two: the scientist who is desperate to complete her research, and the zombie child whose evolution, if it continues, may transform her into a new, hybrid species worthy of the same rights and considerations guaranteed to all humans.
