91 pages • 3 hours read
Jeff ZentnerGoodbye Days
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 41-45Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 41 Summary
Carver is preparing for his goodbye day for Mars. He has a flashback to how the boys met, which reveals that Mars was the final member of Sauce Crew. Carver arrives at Judge Edwards’s house at 5:30 a.m., as instructed. He’s wearing workout clothes, as the Judge requested. The atmosphere is tense. When Carver refers to Mars by his nickname, the Judge insists that they use Mars’s full name: Thurgood Marshall Edwards.
They drive to a running path and do a seven-mile run. Carver is exhausted, but the Judge doesn’t cut him any slack. They return to Judge Edwards’s house, and Carver showers and puts on church clothes. Then they eat breakfast and go to church. At church, the pastor ends his sermon early and welcomes the Judge, who gives a fiery speech. Carver has a panic attack.
Back at the house, Judge Edwards gives Carver the task of cleaning out Mars’s bedroom. He instructs Carver to divide everything into one of two categories, garbage or charity. He also tells Carver to put Mars’s artwork into the garbage. This is unthinkable to Carver because Mars took such pride in his art (and was a skilled artist). In Judge Edwards’s eyes, the goodbye day is an opportunity for him to convey to Carver what Carver “took” from him. He doesn’t want to hear stories about Mars from Carver. Throughout the day, Carver has imaginary conversations with Mars: “Tell him who I am, Mars whispers to me […]. I never did” (349).
Carver finally gets the courage to confront Judge Edwards while he’s cleaning out Mars’s room and finds a graphic novel called The Judge, which is a about an African-American judge and superhero who is clearly based on Mars’s father. He confronts Judge Edwards, telling him, “Let me tell you about the Mars you didn’t know” (362). He gives him the graphic novel. Judge Edwards reacts violently, shouting at Carver to get out of the house and then physically forcing him out. Later that day, Carver is at home when Judge Edwards shows up. He has The Judge with him. He asks Carver to tell him about Mars.
Chapter 42 Summary
Carver and Judge Edwards resume their goodbye day for Mars. This time Carver is in charge. He takes the Judge to get peanut butter and banana milkshakes, Mars’s favorite. Judge Edwards reveals that he asked the district attorney not to pursue charges against Carver because he wanted to protect Mars’s reputation: “I didn’t want my son put on trial for his own death. And that’s what would have happened” (370). He explains that he was hard on Mars because he didn’t want him—a young Black man—seen as “another young thug” (369). This is what would have happened in a trial, he believes. Finally, Judge Edwards tells Carver he should have a sort of goodbye day with his own parents.
Chapter 43 Summary
At home, Carver gets into bed with his parents and cries. He feels somewhat at peace. He then texts Jesmyn, apologizing. She responds, telling him to say it to her face. He goes to her house, and they talk in the car, rekindling their friendship. She asks whether he wants a ride to school the next day. It seems they will remain friends, even if there is never a romantic connection.
Chapter 44 Summary
Carver sees Dr. Mendez. He tells him another story about the accident. This time, the story isn’t fake, like the one about Hiro. It’s the real story. Carver cries as he tells it. When he’s done, Dr. Mendez reveals that a close friend of his, Ruben Arteaga, died when they were in high school. Carver is surprised to learn his therapist knew what he was going through all along.
Dr. Mendez explains why he asked Carver to tell stories about the accident:
It was only by engaging with other stories—stories that removed me from the equations—that I was able to close this wound so I could heal. The universe—fate—is cruel and random. Things happen for many reasons. Things happen for no reason. To shoulder the burden of the universe’s caprice is too much for anyone (385).
Carver decides he will have a “hello day” with his own parents.
Chapter 45 Summary
At school, Carver passes Adair in the parking lot. She gives him a look of hate. It’s clear that she will never forgive him and will always consider him responsible for her twin brother’s death.
Chapters 41-45 Analysis
These chapters mark the book’s climax, creating an escalation in emotional tension and action and then deescalating that tension in a denouement (the final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot). The suspense towards the goodbye day for Mars was built up in the previous chapters. The day is just as bad as Carver anticipated, with a panic attack, an altercation, and the violent conclusion of Judge Edwards kicking him out of the house.
The goodbye day for Mars epitomizes a couple of the book’s themes. First, it brings the topic of race to the forefront. Judge Edwards reveals that he requested the district attorney not to pursue an investigation not because of any sympathy for Carver but because he didn’t want Mars to be blamed for his own death. Judge Edwards explicitly highlights race as the issue, noting that he was hard on Mars because he didn’t want his Black son to be seen as a “thug.” The fact that Mars is named for Thurgood Marshall, the first Black US Supreme Court Justice—and that Judge Edwards insists on using Mars’s legal name—reiterates his awareness of race and how the color of Mars’s skin put him at risk of being viewed as a thug because of the actions that led to his death.
This issue is something that Carver seemingly never thought about. While Carver gains insights into his friend’s life, he also teaches Judge Edwards about Mars, as he knew him. Mars’s goodbye day thus also epitomizes the theme of family. While Judge Edwards, as Mars’s father, knew him in one way, Carver, as his friend, knew him another way. Family ties are theoretically some of the closest a person can have, but Mars seems to have been closer emotionally to Carver than he was to his own father. The book highlights the complexity of familial relationships while arguing for a need to present our true selves to those who love us most. This theme is especially relevant in the world of teenagers, who are sometimes more open with friends than with parents.
Carver’s goodbye days have made him realize the value in connecting emotionally with his parents. Judge Edwards even tells him that he should have a goodbye day with his parents, which he decides he will do. Throughout the narrative, Georgia has encouraged Carver to be more open with his parents. The fact that Carver gets back from his goodbye day with Judge Edwards and crawls into his parents’ bed and cries is a major breakthrough, showing the character’s evolution and how the goodbye days have changed him from someone who didn’t confide in his parents at all to someone who openly seeks comfort from them.
Carver’s character also makes other breakthroughs in these chapters. He apologizes to Jesmyn and fixes their friendship. He also finally tells the real story of the accident to Dr. Mendez, giving a true representation of the facts. The subsequent discovery that Dr. Mendez lost a friend of his own as a teenager reiterates a point that Dearly’s character brought up in dedicating a song to a deceased friend—namely, that these instances of loss are ubiquitous. Everyone experiences death in their life, even seemingly untouchable people like rock stars and mental health professionals.
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