51 pages • 1 hour read
The Great Alone
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Chapters 9-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary
Geneva’s death disturbs Leni because she was so knowledgeable about Alaska: “If Geneva Walker—Gen, Genny, the Generator, I answer to anything—could be lost so easily, no one was safe” (114). The thought of how horrible it would be to lose a mother strikes her, and she desires to comfort Matthew. Leni spends her days trying to pen a letter to Matthew. The whole town attends the funeral, and Leni’s family stands behind Mad Earl’s group. Leni wants to speak to Matthew but can’t. After the service, the town continues to the saloon. Leni realizes that death in real life is different from that in her books, as death irrevocably changes people. She thinks of how unbearable it would be to lose her own mother.
Cora gives her sympathies when Tom walks into the bar. Drunk, Ernt and Mad Earl start speaking ill of Tom. Thelma shushes them. Leni goes to talk to Matthew, who confesses that his dad blames him. Leni doesn’t know how to help him after the depth of his loss. Matthew tells her of how they found his mother’s body. His sister, Alyeska, approaches to console him. She introduces herself to Leni, telling her that Matthew has mentioned that they are best friends. She assures Leni that while Matthew is having a tough time, he will be okay. Leni wants to believe her but knows through her father how destructive nightmares can be.
On the way back home, Ernt is drunk and angry. He accuses Cora of flirting with Tom. At the cabin, he hits her twice and leaves. Leni takes care of Cora’s wounds. Cora starts making excuses, and although Leni realizes that this isn’t her father’s first assault, she consoles her mother. Ernt returns and apologizes, but Leni no longer believes her parents can change.
Chapter 10 Summary
The next morning, Cora wants to pretend that nothing happened, but Leni feels angry when she sees her mother’s bruises. She is concerned about their isolation, telling her mother, “[W]e’re in Alaska now, Mama. It’s not like we can get help if we need it” (128). Leni realizes that her mother will never leave Ernt, despite the abuse. When her dad returns in the morning, Leni questions her anger. Ernt tells her he’s sick and promises to stop drinking, and Leni feels she must believe him.
At school, Leni wants to tell Matthew about her problems but doesn’t because he’s wrestling with his own loss. She thinks they both need help. January makes the situation more difficult as the Allbrights’ supplies dwindle, and they lose contact with the outside world. Leni’s parents fight constantly, and she witnesses her dad’s steadily rising anger. At a school field trip, Leni reflects how people change their lives in Alaska, such as Large Marge, who used to be a big city prosecutor before opening her general store. When Leni and Matthew are alone during the field trip, Matthew begins to cry and pushes Leni away. Leni struggles with how to support him, and when Matthew apologizes, she thinks of her dad. Matthew tells her about having nightmares and lets her know that he is leaving to go live with his aunt in Fairbanks. Leni is sad to lose her friend but realizes he needs the help.
The situation at the Allbrights’ cabin worsens with them having little food and Ernt’s increasing anxiety. Cora continues to try and appease Ernt’s temper, but the peace doesn’t last, and Ernt leaves after a small outburst. As Leni eats dinner with her mom, she thinks of the letters she’s trading with Matthew and how they don’t broach the feelings between them. Later that night, Leni hears a scream. Cora and Leni open a window and see wolves attacking their goats. Leni shoots at the predators several times, but the goats keep screaming. Leni and her mom eventually fall asleep, but when they awake in the morning, they find that the wolves have eaten all their goats and chickens.
Chapter 11 Summary
Distraught from the loss, Leni and her mom walk to the town and see Ernt’s bus parked at the saloon. Cora debates telling Ernt about the previous night’s incident just as Tom and Large Marge approach. Cora tells Tom that the wolves attacked their homestead, destroying the animal pens and killing the animals. Large Marge figures out that Ernt wasn’t with them. Angry, Tom goes into the saloon and hauls Ernt out, shoving him in the bus. Drunk and humiliated, Ernt later locks Leni out of the cabin and physically assaults Cora. Leni fears that he might kill her mother.
Once Ernt falls asleep, Leni grabs the keys to the bus and her mom’s purse. She tells her mom they are leaving because Ernt might kill Cora. As they drive off, they swerve to miss a moose and the bus flips over. Leni comes to and sees her mother’s broken arm. Cora tells her to bandage her arm, climb out of the bus, and get help. Leni goes to the Walkers’ place where Tom calls Large Marge. They go to the crash site together, and Tom pulls Cora out. While the doctors tend to Cora at a Homer hospital, Leni asks about Matthew. Tom tells her that Matthew appreciates her letters and that he’s getting better.
Tom then offers to call the police on Ernt, but Cora says that won’t help and confesses that she loves him too much to press charges. Leni thinks of how “they were trapped, by environment and finances, but mostly by the sick, twisted love that bound her parents together” (158). When her dad arrives, Leni realizes that her mom will never leave him. The next day, Leni finds her mother crying. Cora maintains that the assault was her fault for “baiting” (158) Ernt.
Cora’s predicament moves Large Marge and Tom, and they visit the Allbrights’ cabin. Large Marge tells Cora of losing her sister to an abusive man and coming to Alaska to get away from that. Large Marge and Tom consider killing Ernt but present him with another option—leave for the pipeline, send money home, and return in the spring. Large Marge offers to stay with Cora and Leni through the winter. Ernt resents the suggestion he leave, but Large Marge mentions how he can’t handle the dark of winter. She exhorts him to go out of love for his family, and Ernt reluctantly does.
Chapters 9-11 Analysis
The narrative builds parallels between Ernt and Matthew, showing that sometimes dealing with trauma requires distance. While Ernt’s violence towards Cora is of a higher degree, Leni recognizes Matthew’s trauma symptoms: “She knew what nightmares could do to a person and how bad memories could change who you were” (122). When Matthew pushes Leni away and quickly excuses his behavior, Leni thinks, “I didn’t mean to do that. The same words she’d heard spoken by her dad” (137). While she is heartbroken when Matthew tells her that he will go to Fairbanks to live with his aunt and sister, Leni knows that the distance from Geneva’s memory will help him recover.
Through the toxic relationship between Ernt and Cora, the narrative demonstrates the perils of not having distance. Ernt does not make the decision to leave by himself, nor does Cora leave him, despite his abuse. Cora claims that “no one will ever love [her] like he does” (128), suggesting her dependence on him. In condoning his neglect and violence, Cora enables it. As Leni watches Cora blame herself, she thinks that her mother’s “tears watered this ugliness, made it grow” (124). Salvation comes from outside the home as the community, personified by Large Marge and Tom, forces Ernt to leave and protect his family from himself.
Ernt’s explosive violence also causes Leni to question the bonds between her and her mother, and she begins to think for herself. She realizes that her mother has hid her father’s violence from her and breaks from her mother by beginning to doubt that her father’s mental health can improve. Unlike her mother, Leni doesn’t want to ignore her father’s abuse. Her father’s second beating of her mother galvanizes Leni to insist on her mother leaving. Even if this plan doesn’t lead to Leni and Cora’s escape, it does prompt the community to act on their behalf.
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