Nineteen Minutes

by

Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes: Part 1, Chapter 1: March 6, 2007 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Part One opens with the Chinese proverb, “If we don’t change the direction we are headed, we will end up where we are going.” Following this is a handwritten note in which the writer says that they “hope to be dead” by the time what they are writing is read. The writer claims that the reader will cry at their funeral, but it is unclear whether either of them will actually miss the other.   
The novel never fully clarifies what the handwritten sections are extracted from or who wrote them. This first extract reads like a suicide note, but it is also possible that it could be taken from the diary of a teenager who was fantasizing about their own death, but not planning suicide.
Themes
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Vengeance vs. Justice Theme Icon
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The narrator lists all the things that can be done in nineteen minutes, from the mundane (mowing the lawn, getting pizza delivered) to the sinister (exiting the world and getting revenge). Alex Cormier is running late to her job as superior court judge, a position she has held for just over a month. At 40, she is the youngest judge in New Hampshire. She goes into the kitchen where her daughter, Josie, is looking at a textbook. Alex scolds her for drinking coffee, and Josie replies by scolding Alex for still smoking cigarettes, something she’s been trying to keep quiet.
The fact that Alex Cormier is a judge introduces the theme of justice. Even in this early passage, it is clear that—like many families—Alex and Josie personally clash over issues of fairness. This is demonstrated when Josie points out that it isn’t fair for Alex to scold her for drinking coffee, when Alex has a vice herself: cigarettes. 
Themes
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Josie is “a pretty, popular, straight-A student” who, at least on the outside, seems to be the fulfilment of a parent’s hopes and expectations. However, ever since Josie started high school, the “tunnel of communication” between her and Alex has closed. Concerned that Josie hasn’t eaten breakfast, Alex starts cooking some eggs and bacon, even though she is not a very skilled chef. Josie takes over, and Alex asks her to promise that she will eat all of it. Josie promises, and Alex leaves. As soon as her mother is gone, Josie scrapes everything from the skillet straight into the trash. 
Like many teenagers, Josie keeps secrets. Alex wants her to start the day with a substantial breakfast, but Josie—perhaps worried about her weight, although it could be for another reason—refuses to eat the breakfast Alex makes. Perhaps she throws it away in secret because she doesn’t want her mom hassling her. On the other hand, she might be trying to preserve an innocent, dutiful imagine of herself in Alex’s mind.
Themes
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Josie often feels as if her life is a room without doors or windows. Everyone is jealous of her for being in the room, but that doesn’t change the fact that Josie can’t get out. Getting out of the shower, she looks in the mirror and wishes she could see what other people do. She knows that, on the outside, she looks the part of a popular girl, and she enjoys feeling other people’s eyes on her. Inside, though, she feels like “a fake who had nearly forgotten what it felt like to be real.” She can’t talk about these feelings with any of the other popular kids at Sterling High, because doing so would immediately jeopardize her social position.
Through Josie’s character, the novel explores the ways in which being popular, attractive, and high-achieving do not feel as great as one might assume. Josie knows that other people wish they were in her position, but rather than feeling satisfied and happy, she feels anxious and fraudulent. High social standing doesn’t get rid of anxiety—in fact, it arguably increases it.
Themes
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Josie also can’t talk to Alex, because Alex has the same problem of having to preserve a perfect public image. Just before leaving her room for school, Josie checks on a Ziploc bag of Ambien that she has carefully saved up and taped underneath her nightstand. She doesn’t have a specific plan to kill herself, but when the time comes, she wants to be prepared. Down in the kitchen, she finds her boyfriend Matt waiting for her, having let himself in. Josie assures him that she wanted to see him last night, but she needed to study. He embraces her, telling her, “I wouldn’t act as crazy if I didn’t love you so much.” In that moment, Josie feels lucky and content.
The Ziploc bag of Ambien Josie keeps just in case she wants to commit suicide indicates that this novel explores the full, dark reality of what teenage life can be like. It is especially disturbing to see the contrast between Josie’s outwardly “perfect” life—including her adoring boyfriend—and the fact that, underneath, she is so terrified and miserable. 
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Quotes
Patrick Ducharme is the only detective on the Sterling police force. One of the patrol officers remarks on the nail polish Patrick is wearing, which his four-year-old goddaughter painted on him. Patrick goes to check his email. As a small-town detective, he has an incredibly wide range of tasks. He is always assured that his work is meaningful when he encounters victims in need of help, yet he remains troubled that he is a detective who doesn’t “detect anything.”
It is not just teenage girls like Josie whose behavior is scrutinized by others. As this passage indicates, grown men like Patrick are socially “policed” too. One way in which this occurs is through comments on what is perceived as deviance from gender dorms.
Themes
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It is March, the first warm day of spring. Josie sits in the Sterling High parking lot and thinks about the fact that soon, she will be a senior. Matt suggests they ditch school, but Josie points out this would jeopardize his position on the hockey team. Brady Pryce, a football player, and his girlfriend Haley Weaver walk past and wish Matt luck on his hockey game that day. Mr. McCabe, their math teacher, also walks past, and when Matt asks how he did on the recent test, Mr. McCabe says it’s lucky Matt has “other talents to fall back on.”
Sterling High is presented as a typical high school, with typical social figures and groups. Matt and Brady are both athletes, perhaps not the brightest (as indicated by Mr. McCabe’s comment about Matt’s math test) but popular, with girlfriends in tow.
Themes
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Alex rushes into the courthouse, past a man who shouts at her flirtatiously, and she quickly dons her robe before briefly reviewing the docket. As she walks into the courtroom, all eyes watch her closely. The first defendant is called, and Alex notices that it’s the same man who shouted at her earlier. She decides to take it in stride and makes a joke about it. Meanwhile, Lacy Houghton, who is a midwife, is helping a woman through her sixteenth hour of labor. The mother pushes her new baby out, and Lacy hands her the baby to hold. Lacy thinks newborn babies have faces “full of divinity,” but this perfect innocence never lasts long. 
This passage introduces another important theme: the innocence of youth. Lacy witnesses the most extreme version of this idea by delivering babies, who are the very definition of innocent due to being totally untouched by the world. Yet, as Lacy points out, this innocence is inevitably doomed to expire. Does the fact that innocence doesn’t last forever make it even more precious?
Themes
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Expectations and the Failures of Family Theme Icon
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Peter, Lacy’s son, is waking up. Lacy has left him a bowl of cereal and a note wishing him a good day at school like she always does. As soon as he gets out of bed, Peter gets on the computer and sees something on the screen that he’d hoped he’d never see again. He tries to exit, but it is too late.
Lacy is evidently a caring, nurturing mother. Yet the juxtaposition of the breakfast she leaves and the horrible thing Peter sees on his computer reminds readers that she can’t protect him from the bad parts of the world: innocence inevitably fades. 
Themes
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Everyone in Sterling knows each other. In some ways this is nice, because it makes the community like a family; however, it also means that no one there can escape the past. Josie is standing in the cafeteria next to Courtney Ignatio, “the alpha female of Sterling High,” whose tray features only a bottle of water and a banana. Josie observes the different groups in the cafeteria: the geeks, the art freaks, the skanks, the druggies, and the misfits. Josie’s own group all dress in the same preppy style, and Josie fits in perfectly. Her outward appearance expertly conceals her inner confusion. 
This passage continues to paint the portrait of Sterling as a typical high school. Josie and Courtney are both members of the popular crowd, and as a result they feel pressure to perform a certain image to the outside world, which includes being slim. On a deeper level, the lack of food on Courtney’s tray might signal that she doesn’t have desires or needs. 
Themes
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The girls at Josie’s table discuss a freshman who was just sent to rehab for doing cocaine. Her dealer is the leader of the Sterling High Bible study club. Matt greets Josie, and on seeing the French fries on her tray asks if she’s really going to eat them. Matt hands some of Josie’s fries to another boy, Drew, then kisses Josie and says, “Let’s get out of here.”
Josie doesn’t just control her own behavior—others police her behavior, too. Clearly, Matt thinks it is his place (and even duty) to monitor what Josie eats, a sign that he is controlling and possibly abusive.
Themes
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In gym class, two nerdy freshmen, Michael Beach and Justin Friedman, sit on the sidelines, fantasizing that an unexpected event will get them out of class. Meanwhile, Lacy wanders around her empty house. When her two boys were young, her husband, Lewis, an economist of happiness, asked what would make Lacy happy and she replied that she dreamed of being in her own empty house with nothing to do. Lacy passes Peter’s room and makes his bed, something he refuses to do himself.
There is a sense in which Lacy’s life does not seem to belong to her—between her demanding job as a midwife and her role taking care of her family, she fantasizes about time to herself. At the same time, when she has this time, she uses it to go into Peter’s room, suggesting that, even if she sometimes dreams of solitude, her family will always be the most important thing in her life.
Themes
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Zoe Patterson sits in math class while Mr. McCabe makes jokes. She is supposed to meet her mom outside the school at 10am, and as she walks out, she thinks about the mechanics of kissing a guy without hurting him with her braces. Just as she sees her mom’s car in the distance, she hears an explosion. 
The contrast between Zoe’s innocent, typically teenagerish thoughts and the violence of the explosion sets up the disturbing scene that is to follow.
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Patrick sits in his car, waiting to bring a vial of cocaine that he seized from the Bible study dealer to be tested, when he hears reports on his radio of shots being fired at Sterling High. The dispatcher announces, “Signal 1000,” which means every available officer must head to the high school immediately. When Patrick arrives there, he is greeted by a scene of total chaos. He realizes that waiting for the SWAT team to arrive will result in far more kids being killed, and thus, ignoring instructions, he heads straight into the school. Running through the school, he tries to ask the frantic, crying teenagers around him who the shooter is, and how many there are. A boy replies, “It’s a kid… he’s shooting everyone.”
By this point, the scene described here will, sadly, sound very familiar to almost all readers of the novel. Yet bear in mind that “Nineteen Minutes” was published in 2007. While school shootings—including the famous one at Columbine High School—happened before this date, the vast, vast majority of shootings have taken place in the period from 2010 to the present day.
Themes
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Patrick runs through the school. He can see blood, smell urine, and hear gunshots in the distance. He dashes into the gymnasium, where there are bodies lying on the floor. Following the sound of another shot, Patrick runs into the locker room, where he sees two bodies on the floor and a thin boy with glasses. He asks the boy where the shooter is, but the boy then pulls out a pistol and points it at his own head. Patrick raises his gun and demands that the boy drop the pistol, and he does so. Patrick asks if there are other shooters, and the boy says it’s just him.
By putting the most dramatic scene in the novel—the scene around which the whole rest of the narrative will be centered—right at the beginning, Picoult forces the reader to have the same sense of bewilderment as those who witness the shooting. No one knows what’s going on and why—only with time will everything be explained.
Themes
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As other officers take the boy away, Patrick looks at the two bodies lying on the floor. One is a boy wearing a hockey jersey; the other is a girl bleeding from the head. Weakly, the girl asks Patrick to help her, and he immediately does so. She tells him her name is Josie, then asks what happened. Patrick picks her up and carries her out of the school.
The fact that the boy lying next to Josie is wearing a hockey jersey indicates that it is her boyfriend, Matt. From the brief impression provided in this scene, it seems like he is dead.
Themes
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Vengeance vs. Justice Theme Icon
Lost Innocence Theme Icon
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon