61 pages • 2 hours read
Paul G. TremblayA Head Full of Ghosts
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 19-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary
When Dr. Navidson arrives, Father Wanderly leads everyone in prayer, Mom and Merry silently joining hands with the men. As they talk with her, Marjorie is smug and identifies Father Wanderly’s deviations from exorcism protocols dictated by the church. Among them is the Vatican’s mandate that no media be present during an exorcism’s performance. Marjorie acknowledges the money to be made off what they are presently recording, and the appetite for it among the Discovery Channel’s audience. She gives a name, which they take to be that of a demon, and quotes from the text of the rite of exorcism in Father Wanderly’s hands.
Dr. Navidson asks where she learned the information she is sharing, and suggests restricting her access to the Internet against Mom’s objection. Marjorie begins trying to provoke responses from the people in the room, making references to the epidemic of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, and laughs and mocks the naiveté of her parents, Dr. Navidson, and Father Wanderly. She speaks in different voices, switching to that of a helpless innocent when pleading for help. She reveals myriad injuries on her stomach, taunting Father Wanderly about the efficacy of previous exorcisms he performed.
Conferring, all three men agree that a 14-year-old girl like Marjorie could not possibly have discovered all of the information she related to them on her own. Mom dismisses these misogynistic notions, insisting that Marjorie is smart. Mom retreats with Merry into the kitchen. Mom is clearly upset. She begins crying, and Merry torments her by trying to confirm that she’s not the source of Mom’s anguish, even after her mother asks to be left alone. Mom loses her temper, throwing her wine glass at the wall and shouting: “Get the fuck away from me!” (182).
Mom sleeps with Merry, and though Mom is still upset, Merry yammers on, debating aloud whether she wants to keep the bedroom door open or not. Merry begins to wonder if her sister might truly be possessed, even if she is also intentionally faking. She visits Marjorie in the middle of the night. Marjorie confides that she thinks their father is the one who is possessed, citing his recent anger and outbursts and the rapidity of his descent into religious fervor. Marjorie warns Merry that eventually she will have to do something even more terrible.
Part 2, Chapter 20 Summary
In the final cut of the interview between Marjorie and Dr. Navidson, “experts” attribute anomalies that they claim appear in the footage to the paranormal. A software analysis claims it is impossible for a 14-year-old girl to have replicated the voices Marjorie created. The facts that Marjorie stated are substantiated, including her claims about the rules Father Wanderly ignores. Their father is depicted as the faithful, if powerless, head of the household, while her mother is often shown smoking, haggard, listless, uncertain, and exhausted.
The archdiocese grants permission for marjorie’s exorcism, and Father Wanderly takes eight days to prepare himself. Marjorie’s behavior and symptoms appear to remit; Barry expresses frustration at the lack of incidents to film. As episodes air, Merry experiences significant bullying at school, and Mom refuses to keep her home even when the abuse turns physical. The bank where Mom works insists that she take a leave of absence. Protestor presence increases outside the Barrett home, requiring greater police presence. Dad spends most of his time at church, leaving Mom alone with both girls.
The night before the exorcism, the camera crew stages an interaction. Barry asks the Barretts to talk about their feelings in anticipation of the exorcism; Mom curses at him. Marjorie volunteers to talk about “what it feels like—when I’m not me” (198). She describes a lack of control over her body, a profound dread and helplessness that makes her feel as though she is dying. She asks that Merry be there when they perform the exorcism. Marjorie says that something terrible will happen otherwise. Dad says he doesn’t know whether to believe Marjorie, because “it” could be the demon talking. Mom insists that she does not want Merry to be present.
Marjorie twirls around in one of the window curtains, delivering an ultimatum. She will not only not cooperate, but will fight the ritual however she can if her sister is not there. Dad, furious, aggressively starts unwrapping Marjorie from the curtain. Mom tries to stop him, and they struggle with each other physically, requiring the intervention of Barry and Ken. Merry cries and shrieks, declaring that she wants to be there and help, and is whisked off to the bathroom by Mom.
Part 2, Chapter 21 Summary
On the morning of the exorcism, Merry is playing soccer in the backyard when she hears shouting at the front of the house. Dad is speaking to police officers. Merry notices that a more hostile group of protesters has joined the assemblage, carrying signs with anti-gay slurs. Merry watches as Dad surges into the crowd, tearing signs. He attacks one of the protesters, spitting in his face and physically assaulting him while the other protesters jeer and record him on their phones.
Ken runs outside and Merry hurries in. Marjorie repeats her assertion that her father is the one everyone should be concerned about. Merry spends the day watching TV with Ken. Mom bails Dad out of jail. Both are sullen when they come home, and Marjorie again tells Merry that it is their father who is possessed. Mom and Dad argue about Dad’s arrest, and how it interfered with their ability to prepare Merry for what she might see during the exorcism. Dad barks at the camera crew to stop taping. Mom mocks him, challenging the sincerity of his beliefs given the rapidity of their onset.
Upstairs, alone with her daughters before the exorcism begins, Mom reassures Marjorie that if Marjorie wants, she will put a stop to everything.
As the production crew begins moving about the room, newly staged with religious paraphernalia throughout, Marjorie declares she feels sick. Mom helps her to the bathroom. Accompanied by a younger priest, Father Wanderly appears in his ceremonial vestments. Mom and Marjorie are in the bathroom, and Dad, impatient, knocks on the door and urges them to come out. He asks Father Wanderly if Mom should hear the instructions again. He claims that he bears the burden of responsibility, believing that he and his wife are in agreement over this course of action. Father Wanderly reassures Dad that despite his violent outburst earlier in the day, he is “a fine Christian man” (214).
Part 2, Chapter 22 Summary
The November air coming through the open window makes Marjorie’s room cold. Mom protests the use of restraints, but Father Wanderly insists. Mom ties them herself, whispering to Marjorie. Father Wanderly begins, and Marjorie recites the procedural steps in advance, warning Merry that if she doesn’t perform the correct responses, she too will end up possessed. Mom holds Merry’s hand, not participating. Merry thinks she can see her sister acting out, but has doubts as to who is truly in control of Marjorie’s behavior.
As Father Wanderly speaks to the demon, Marjorie begs, in her own voice, for help, claiming that she is cold. Dad holds Mom back, and Father Gavin fixes the blanket himself. Marjorie reveals more information her father and the priests believe she should not have, provoking them to respond. With Dad and Father Wanderly yelling prayers and responses, Merry imagines going off to live in California with her family, where Bigfoot lives.
Marjorie claims they are only making it worse, and Mom mutters an apology to her. One of Marjorie’s desk drawers opens on its own and then slams shut, and she insists, frightened, that she had nothing to do with it. Marjorie complains of being cold again; when Father Gavin reaches up to replace her blanket, she latches onto his arm with her teeth, requiring Dad and Father Wanderly to pry his arm away, tearing a large swathe of skin from his wrist. Merry averts her eyes, but she can hear Marjorie spit Father Gavin’s blood onto the floor as he writhes in pain.
Marjorie is out of her restraints. She runs to her desk drawer. She opens it and discovers a spring-loaded mechanism, ostensibly the one used to make the drawer open and shut on its own. She accuses Merry of placing it there.
An EMT bursts into the room to attend to Father Gavin. Merry shouts at Marjorie that she has been faking, and that she told Merry she was faking. Merry flees down the stairs, hearing a commotion and her sister’s voice behind her. At the bottom of the stairs, beside Ken and Tony, Merry turns around. Marjorie leaps over the banister railing. Merry covers her eyes, hearing the sound of her sister hitting the floor.
Part 2, Chapters 19-22 Analysis
The tension in the home escalates. Dad’s erratic behavior and lack of control also increase. This is evidence of his frustration that religion did not immediately provide a resolution to his problems. The novel suggests that Dad, despite his desire to present himself as the authority figure in the house, is “weak” and looking for an external force to assume control and rectify the situation for him. Dad sees Christianity as a panacea meant to serve his needs; he is willing to cooperate and comply with the expectations and parameters of his faith only so long as he is satisfied with the results. He is constantly looking for validation and praise from Father Wanderly but has no interest in how personal growth and improving familial communication might help to facilitate Marjorie’s healing.
Mom is the most rational member of the family at the moment the exorcism is suggested. However, she is depicted in the documentary edits as “weak,” and as Merry says, to be the “doubting Thomas.” The reality show creates its own sense of what should be considered real. An atheist, Mom doesn’t express hatred or mistrust for religious people; her objection to her husband’s reliance on Catholicism is based on how he shallowly latched onto it and his lack of sincere conviction and understanding.
Once she has read “Karen’s” blog, Rachel trusts Merry significantly less. This is likely because of the flippant, self-involved tone and its inappropriateness given the seriousness of events. The gap between Merry’s tone and the events of her childhood may become even more palpable to the reader when the novel reveals that Merry’s entire family is dead, and that she helped killed them.
It doesn’t seem to bother Merry that Rachel has lost trust in her and that Rachel’s approach to the book has changed. Merry does not seem to possess the insight to anticipate that Rachel’s book may portray her unfavorably. Rachel was compassionate with Merry at the beginning, but, in the upcoming section at the end of their series of interviews, seems to pity and desire no further contact with her. Even after several sessions, Merry is deceptive with Rachel in Chapter 23: She insinuates that she has not read the police reports and asks to see Rachel’s copies; she asks specifically about fingerprints presumably to make sure there is no way to incriminate her.
After Marjorie jumped from the banister, the film crew and the Catholic church distanced themselves from the Barretts altogether. Similarly, Rachel has reached her limit of tolerance for Merry’s behavior and finds herself questioning the integrity of her subject.
