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Summary
Chapters 11-15
Chapter 11
Vianne maintains an ordinary routine throughout the summer despite their difficulties. She notices Isabelle behaving oddly and concludes that her younger sister must be visiting a boy. One day in the fall, she is walking home from the school when she encounters Beck, who tells her that Antoine, Rachel’s husband Marc, and many other men in the village are being held as prisoners of war in Germany and will therefore not return home soon. At Le Jardin, she cries and then informs Rachel. Later, she meets with many other women from the village in the schoolhouse and shares the news about their husbands. They write messages on postcards which she hopes that Beck can send to Germany. At home, she requests Beck’s help, and he agrees but also asks her to identify any Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists, and homosexuals who might work at the school. Reluctantly, she lists various Jewish individuals, including Rachel, reasoning that there is nothing wrong in doing so as their religion is public knowledge in the village.
Chapter 12
On a cold winter day, Vianne notes the dwindling food supplies before heading to the school. A car drives up to the school, and a Nazi agent accompanied by a French policeman fires several teachers who have been identified as Jewish, communists, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, including Rachel. Later, Vianne goes to the Nazi headquarters seeking help from Beck, who insists that he did not know that the list would be used for this purpose. He warns her to leave the headquarters quickly, as it could prove dangerous for her to attract attention there. After she leaves, several village women taunt Vianne for her comfortable relationship with the Nazis. After confessing to a shocked Isabelle that she provided a list of Jewish individuals to Beck, Vianne goes to her church and speaks with Mother Superior Marie-Therese, who comforts her but also insists that Vianne must ask herself what she is willing to sacrifice for security. Vianne then goes to Rachel’s house and confesses that she included her name on the list. Though Rachel does not blame Vianne, as her Jewish faith is common knowledge, she warns her friend that she must not let her guard down around Beck just because he is polite and handsome.
Meanwhile, Isabelle wonders if her work distributing pamphlets and newsletters is making any difference. After stealing a bike that has been co-opted by an SS officer, she heads to the resistance headquarters, where she kisses Henri but feels nothing, as her mind is still on Gaëtan.
Chapter 13
Vianne, who suspects that Isabelle is dating a boy in secret, gives her a note that was delivered to the house by Henri. The note summons her to a meeting with the local members of the French Resistance. They request that she deliver a message to a contact in Paris and then stay there to deliver future messages. Though she is aware of the risks, Isabelle agrees to the plan, plotting to get a hold of a travel pass so that she can travel to Paris. Later, German soldiers requisition various pieces of furniture and art from Le Jardin. There, Isabelle pretends that her father is sick and convinces Beck to obtain a travel pass for her. She does not tell the truth to Vianne, instead pretending that she is absconding to Paris with Henri for a romantic getaway.
Chapter 14
The narrative returns to 1995, where the older woman from Chapter 1 is transported by her son to a nursing home. Though her new apartment in the nursing home is comfortable, she feels ambivalent about the move and her reliance on her son. Though he offers for her to move in with him, she prefers to live on her own so that he and his daughters do not have to witness her slowly dying of cancer. Looking over her mail, her son sees a letter from France inviting Isabelle to a reunion of passeurs, or people who helped others during the war, in Paris. She again reflects upon the past, alluding to various mistakes that she made and a man whom she killed.
Chapter 15
In 1941, Beck offers some fish that he has caught to Vianne, who accepts them with some reluctance. Isabelle has left for Paris and the atmosphere of tension and conflict has eroded at Le Jardin, but Vianne remembers Isabelle’s parting warning not to trust Beck. Meanwhile, Isabelle returns to a Paris that has been profoundly transformed by the German Occupation. After seeing that her father’s bookstore has been left in a state of disarray by the Nazis, she makes her way to her father’s apartment. There, she learns that her father has been working for the Nazis and convinces him to allow her to stay. The next day, she meets the resistance contact, an Eastern European woman, and passes her the letter. They plan for Isabelle to meet more members of the Resistance.
Analysis
In these chapters, the already-deep gulf between the two sisters widens as they respond in very different ways to the pressures of the German occupation. The obedient Vianne carefully follows the rules and restrictions imposed by the Nazis in order to stay out of trouble. She follows the curfew, accepts the requisition of her furniture, and maintains a courteous relationship with Beck. Though she bristles internally at the rudeness of the Nazis and the difficult conditions of her new life, she carefully keeps these thoughts to herself. Through Vianne, the novel underscores the thin line between self-preservation and collaboration. She is a kind and caring woman, but her behavior occasionally borders on open collaboration with the Nazis, a fact that other local women begin to resent.
Read an in-depth character analysis of Wolfgang Beck.
In a critical scene in the novel, she produces a list of Jews working at the school at Beck’s request, including her own best friend, Rachel. Though she tells herself that Rachel’s Jewish identity is public knowledge, reasoning that anyone else in the village, if asked, would have done the same, there is nevertheless a clear sense of betrayal in this act. When Rachel is subsequently dismissed from the school, a contrite Vianne turns to the mother superior of her church, who suggests that Vianne will have to think carefully about what she is willing to sacrifice. At this point in the novel, Vianne maintains awkward but polite relations with the Nazis in exchange for small favors, such as Beck’s promise to deliver a message to her husband, who is imprisoned in Germany. Though her family is a source of solace for Vianne, whose life was deeply marked by her father’s abandonment, her love for her family also compels her to serve as a hesitant accomplice to the Nazis who have taken over her town and nation. Her desire to maintain normalcy during times of war and conflict reflects an inability to face the reality of her situation and often leads her to cowardice.
Read more about Abandonment as a motif in The Nightingale.
In stark contrast to her older sister, Isabelle rises to the occasion, finding her inner strength in these turbulent times. She cannot tolerate the acquiescence of her compatriots to the tyranny of the occupation and finds small opportunities to resist the Germans. Ultimately, Isabelle grows increasingly bold in her willingness to flout the law despite the grave risks of imprisonment, torture, and death. Her passion is also, in part, motivated by her experiences of sexism. As a pretty young woman, she is used to being underestimated and turns this to her advantage in her work as a courier for the resistance. Isabelle, then, represents the various members of French society who refused to give in, demonstrating great bravery and sacrifice in resisting the German occupation.
Read more about the motif of Sacrifice in The Nightingale.
Though the two sisters care for one another, neither can understand the other’s perspective. Their disagreements reflect broader divides in French society during the war, as some sought to make the best of their difficult situation while others joined the growing resistance to the German occupation. Their personal conflict is presented against a backdrop of growing discontent and worsening conditions in occupied France. As food becomes increasingly difficult to obtain and the rights of French citizens are curtailed, tensions between the French and the Germans, and between French citizens, boil over. Crucially, these chapters portray the early stages of the German’s oppression of Jewish individuals across Europe, as women such as Rachel lose their jobs, and Jewish businesses are confiscated by the Germans. These early developments set the stage for later acts of violence against the Jews of France.
