50 pages • 1 hour read
Lauren GroffFates and Furies
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.
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BetaPart 2, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “The Furies”
Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary
The novel switches to the perspective of Mathilde, as she tries to cope with the loss of Lotto. She walks through Boston and runs into Bridget, who argues people aren’t looking at her not because Mathilde’s become old but because Mathilde looks so angry since Lotto died. Mathilde remarks there’s no point in hiding her anger anymore.
Flashing back to the ambulance that carried Lotto’s dead body away, Mathilde then goes through the tortuous task of telling everyone the sad news. Lotto’s friends and family fly in to be by Mathilde’s side, to mourn together and comfort her. Rachel is upset, but keeps it together when she arrives for Mathilde’s sake. Aunt Sallie ends her world tour and Chollie fires up his helicopter to get to Mathilde as soon as he can. Even Samuel shows up to help.
Chollie reveals that his sister, Gwennie, killed herself years ago (the story had been that she had not taken her own life, and died of an accidental overdose). He mentions this secret to empathize with Mathilde, but she rebukes his efforts.
Mathilde is too caught up in her own grief to feign her normal shield of politeness. She becomes lost in the implications of what being alone at age 46 will mean. Rachel’s family keeps Mathilde alive, caring for her while she is in her catatonic state of shock.
Part 2, Chapter 2 Summary
A glimpse into Mathilde’s past reveals she “was not unfamiliar with grief” (214). In fact, when she was 4, she led a different life as a beloved British toddler named Aurelie.
Despite her humble family, young Aurelie is happy and adored until her baby brother is born when she is 4. His colic takes up a lot of attention and irritates Aurelie. One day, she allows her baby brother to fall down the stairs and he dies. This event is unforgiveable to her parents, despite her young age. They look for another home for their former daughter.
They drop off a tearful Aurelie at her father’s parent’s house. She wakes up and it takes five times for Aurelie to realize they are never coming back for her. At first, her grandmother tries to console the child, but Aurelie’s rage is insatiable. Her grandparents are forced to tie her to the bed to prevent damage to themselves, their tomato garden, and their cat. At 4 years old, having lost her little brother and parents, the distraught little girl is unsure how much time passes, but begins to forget the memories of her parents.
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary
Mathilde scoffs at the thousands of admirers who show up to Lotto’s funeral, rather than be flattered that he was so loved. She forgoes the reception to be alone with her thoughts in the countryside; after the interment, she is unable to be around the “unhygienic flood of snot and tears, […] too much coffee breath in her face […] [and] assaultive perfume” (219).
Returning to her house, Mathilde writes thank-you emails and experiences an identity split: there is Mathilde and “Naked Mathilde.” As Naked Mathilde, she feels no obligation to carry out her duties as a dog owner, take care of herself, or allow loved ones to intervene. Aunt Sallie is more stubborn than Naked Mathilde and camps out in the yard until Mathilde unlocks the door one day to let her in.
Mathilde’s life as a widow evolves into insatiable lust. She remembers all of the things she’s wanted to consume. The first was Lotto’s grandeur and the second was the innocence that Elizabeth’s newborn possessed. Now, without Lotto, Mathilde transmutes these unchecked desires into the opposite of virtue, succumbing to “a widow’s lust” (223).
Part 2, Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The second part of the novel, “The Furies,” is told from the perspective of Mathilde. The picture of Mathilde established in Lotto’s section of the book is turned on its head after his death. Her personality shift isn’t a matter of grief, as many assume; rather, and in revealing her origin story, the only clear thing is that Lotto never knew the true Mathilde, which was mostly by her design.
Along with grieving for her husband, her ruined marriage, and the loss of her youth, Mathilde also continues to grapple with both her loneliness and her acceptance of Lotto, which Lotto had chalked up to be love and devotion. While Mathilde loved Lotto in her own way, she also had been taught to use her body as a balm to soothe her loneliness, and used sex to fix their marriage, rather than address what was broken.
Instead of practicing self-care after no longer having to focus on the all-consuming job of taking care of Lotto, Mathilde transfers her stress-relief to having sex with random, consenting, local men. Because she has a lot of issues to deal with personally, on top of the loss of the one person whom she felt loved a piece of her, Mathilde goes through a lot of men, but remains disappointed from their lack of skill, when compared to Lotto.
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By Lauren Groff
