72 pages • 2 hours read
Alix E. HarrowThe Ten Thousand Doors of January
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter 13-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary: “The Open Doors”
As she crosses the Threshold, January feels Locke’s hand grab her ankle, and Bad attacks him. She sees terror and uncertainty in his face, and watches him disappear as the darkness engulfs him. She steps into the sea air of the Written, and suddenly feels overwhelmed by the pain in her arm and hip—both places where Locke shot her. January uses the compass from Ilvane to find the stone house her father wrote about, and her father’s parents answer the door. They haven’t seen their son for almost 20 years, and January realizes her father never came home.
When she enters the house, January sees her mother. It takes a moment, but when Ade recognizes January as her daughter, her face fills with both joy and sorrow. Now, January sits in her father’s room, writing this book. She has been waiting for him alongside her mother for 16 days. For the last 17 years, Ade has been traveling, looking for a Door back to Yule. She comes back to the stone house a few times a year to rest. Her years of wandering taught her that freedom doesn’t mean anything unless she has someone to share it with.
January gives her mother The Ten Thousand Doors in hopes that she can understand Julian, and in time, forgive him for leaving January to look for her. Both of them continue to wait, until finally, they see sails on the horizon; her father is home.
Now, January sits on her mother’s boat, The Key. She left her parents in order to find and reopen the Doors that the Society closed. Alongside her scars, she now wears tattoos declaring her identity as a word-worker and daughter. She writes this book to the world, in hopes that if she is unable to finish her work, people will know about Doors. She wants to communicate that the world needs Doors and the change that they bring. More importantly, she writes this book for Samuel, in hopes that he will remember everything Locke made him forget, and his promise to stay with her always.
Epilogue Summary: “The Door in the Mist”
In Vermont, Samuel constantly looks towards the horizon but does not know what he searches for. He feels like he has lost something important, but can’t remember what it is. Jane approached him a few weeks ago, but he did not recognize her or understand the things she said. Locke completely wiped his memory, and left him with only an aching in his heart.
Samuel sees a dog and young woman coming towards him, and although he doesn’t recognize her, she knows his name. January gives him a bundle of papers and asks him to read them. She tells him Locke House will soon be hers, and she plans to return Locke’s collected objects to their owners. She tells him, “Read fast, Samuel. We have work to do” (371). When she touches his face, he has a fleeting moment of recognition, and remembers her face looking out the window of Locke House. January kisses him softly, writes a Door in the air with her finger, and steps through it.
Chapter 13-Epilogue Analysis
As January steps across the Threshold, she finally feels “entirely [her]self” and unafraid (346). Locke, afraid of uncertainty and change, gets stuck in the in-between. As January bravely becomes her true self, Locke loses himself to fear. While she later waits for her father’s return alongside her mother, she begins to heal both physically and emotionally. Despite the pain in her past, she is ready to forgive and see the good that came out of her family’s brokenness.
The power of words comes full circle in the final chapter. While she waits for her father’s return, January writes her story. She has experienced the power of stories and words firsthand. She also gives her mother The Ten Thousand Doors so that Ade can understand her father’s decision to leave January with Locke. January gets tattoos on her arms that complement her scars rather than cover them. These words identify her as a daughter, word-worker, and wanderer—her newfound identity. January ends her book with a plea for the general reader to recognize the influence of words and Doors: “I hope you will run through every open Door and tell stories when you return” (365). January believes in the power of words, and inspires the reader to do the same.
Even though Harrow never uses Samuel’s name, it’s clear by this final chapter that January is writing her story for him, to remind him of all the events Locke made him forget. Harrow’s hints that January’s book is for Samuel allows this plot discovery to happen over time, on its own. In the Epilogue, the point of view shifts from January’s perspective to that of a third person narrator. This reinforces the idea that January has finished her book, and goes to deliver it to Samuel. January has changed significantly since the story’s beginning. She is bold, touching Samuel’s cheek and kissing him, something she was too afraid to do at Locke’s party and Samuel’s cabin. Harrow shows that January’s transformation is complete. She is more like her mother now, adventurous and fearless, but also similar to her father, a lover of words. Even more, she is her own person; no longer controlled by Locke, she uses her unique power to reopen Doors and has a clear purpose and direction for her life.
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By Alix E. Harrow
