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Book 2, Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Son, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Pain and Maternal Love
Travel, Fitting In, and Values
Emotion, Individuality, and the Human Experience
Family and Coming of Age
Community and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
Alys watches Claire doing sit-ups, of which Einar told her to do 10 every night. Aside from Einar, Alys is the only other person who knows Claire plans to climb out. Despite her ability to bandage gruesome wounds and deliver babies, she was hysterical when Einar and Claire told her that Claire was going to try; she insisted that the mountain “ruined” Einar and she wouldn’t let it do the same to Claire. Einar assured her it was “after” that hurt him, but he insisted Claire can do it and that they need her help.
It still remains mysterious what happened to Einar “after,” but this creates tension as, presumably, Claire will discover what happens “after” in due course. As both Einar and Alys ultimately throw themselves into helping Claire, they again show that they value Claire and helping others more generally.
Themes
Now, it’s spring. Claire tells Einar that she’s ready to climb after spending the winter tightening her belly, but he laughs and tells her to run up the path to the waterfall and back. It’s slippery and muddy, and he tells her to do it barefoot. Claire argues, but she finally tries it. She slips and falls multiple times, finally making it back to him bruised, bleeding, and crying. He tells her to do it again. By summer, the run feels easier, so Einar ties Claire’s hands together. Soon after, when Bryn and baby Elen are visiting, Einar stops by and tells Claire to run with the baby. Elen is delighted, and Einar says Claire must start running with a bag of rocks. When he feels her strong legs and lets his hand linger on her ankle, Claire realizes they love each other—but she can’t stay.
As Claire trains to climb the cliff, she becomes self-confident and competent in a way she’s never been before. She’s working toward a goal that’s extremely important to her, and seemingly for the first time, what her body does—what she learns she can train it to do—is totally up to her. And even though Claire and Einar are falling in love, Claire still realizes that her baby matters more to her than anything else. She must continue her journey and leave this village (and Einar) in order to find where she truly belongs.
Themes
Einar sets Claire’s exercises through the rest of the summer and into the winter. She learns to throw a rope so she has something to climb with, and she practices walking a tightrope. Still, Einar says Claire isn’t ready yet. By the next spring, Elen is walking, Bryn is pregnant again, and nobody is curious about Claire anymore. She continues to help Alys as she exercises day and night (to prepare for completing part of the climb in darkness). Though she doesn’t remember why she feels this way, she refuses to let Einar blindfold her. Before long, Claire realizes she can use her toes much like she can use her fingers. She’s delighted—and then she realizes it’s cruel to talk about her seemingly magical toes in front of Einar, who no longer has toes.
Claire’s love for her son continues to motivate her to train her body and prepare for the climb out. At the same time, though, her past trauma continues to haunt her: she refuses the blindfold because she was blindfolded against her will during her labor. But by training her body and moving forward, becoming more self-sufficient in the process, Claire grows and moves toward a different kind of coming of age: one where she becomes the person she’d really like to be (a present mother to her baby).
Themes
