Grown

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

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Part 2, Chapters 45-50Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 45 Summary: “Connection”

Disconnected from her life back home, Enchanted looks on Instagram and sees pictures of her sister, her friends on the swim team, and the members of Will and Willow living their lives as normal teenagers. She tries to find pictures of Gab, and is “starting to forget what [Gab] looks like” (181). Enchanted feels like the world has moved on without her. Korey “snatches [her] phone, shoving it in his pocket” (182), and announces that she doesn’t need it anymore. They’re going to Korey’s home in Atlanta.

Part 2, Chapter 46 Summary: “Glass Jar”

Korey brings Enchanted into his pristine, sterile house. Enchanted believes that her parents “probably wouldn’t let [her] through the front door” (184), so she decides that her home is with Korey now. Korey says they will record her album here, and Jessica lays down the ground rules. Enchanted must keep the house spotless, and she can only eat and drink when Korey tells her. She cannot talk to men, and she has to wear a loose-fitting tracksuit at all times. She cannot leave her room without permission, and again, there is a metal bucket for her to urinate in. Korey drugs her with purple drink, a codeine-laced beverage that makes her easier to control.

Part 2, Chapter 47 Summary: “Jellyfish”

Enchanted remembers being stung by a jellyfish when she was younger. She thinks about how “Daddy rushed in and carried [her] to shore” (188). She remembers learning facts about jellyfish: how they have no brains, no hearts, no eyes, no spines, and only sting when provoked. As she recalls these facts, she thinks about things Korey says that remind her of a jellyfish’s sting. She wonders if “Daddy will come and save [her] again” (189).

Part 2, Chapter 48 Summary: “Ready Player One”

Enchanted watches as Korey plays video games instead of helping her work on her songs. During the game, Korey admits that he was only 14 when he first had a sexual encounter with a grown woman who “taught [him] a few thangs” (191). Enchanted is horrified and wonders if Korey “doesn’t even realize he was taken advantage of or how much he’s been hurt” (192). Enchanted decides that if she can love Korey hard enough, she can help heal him.

Part 2, Chapter 49 Summary: “Case File”

In the present day, the autopsy of Korey Fields reveals that his cause of death was “multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen” (193). The autopsy reveals that in addition to Korey and Enchanted, there was a “Possible third unidentified individual [...] in the apartment at time of death” (194).

Part 2, Chapter 50 Summary: “Welfare Check”

One day, police show up at Korey’s door. Someone called in a welfare check, and they ask to speak to Enchanted. Korey jokes that “she’s not chained up in the basement” (196), but the officers insist on speaking to Enchanted privately. They ask her if she is being held against her will, and Enchanted, afraid to confess to what has been going on, says that she isn’t. The officers leave, and Korey flies into a rage, accusing Enchanted’s “nosy-ass parents” (198) of sending the cops. Enchanted pleads for Korey to return her phone so she can tell her parents to back off, but he refuses.

Part 2, Chapters 45-50 Analysis

As the setting of the story shifts to Korey’s house in Atlanta, his control over Enchanted tightens. On his own home turf, Enchanted experiences new degrees of abuse from Korey. The house comes with tight rules that solidify Korey’s ownership over the women in his home, like the strict dress code that is meant to divert male attention, the cameras in every room, and the return of the metal bucket. Enchanted is not treated like a girlfriend here, but like one of Korey’s many possessions. Again, Jackson highlights the role Jessica plays in enabling Korey’s abuse in these chapters, a dynamic that also serves to confuse Enchanted as to whether Korey’s behavior is reasonable (i.e., Enchanted expects that Jessica would not help Korey abuse her). Enchanted clings to Korey’s story of his own childhood sexual abuse as an explanation for his behavior toward her, ironically and tragically unable to see that she is being similarly abused. Her reaction, to try to heal Korey through love even as he breaks his promise to help her record her album, indicates how he has manipulated her into prioritizing his needs over her own.

While the earlier chapters show Enchanted deliberately ignoring her parents’ voicemails and phone calls, Chapter 45 demonstrates another significant shift: Korey takes away Enchanted’s phone, cutting off any communication from the outside world. Enchanted is completely isolated, and the visit from the police shows how little power her parents have to help her. Enchanted has the chance to ask for help, but Korey has manipulated her so effectively that she is afraid to leave him or show any sign of unhappiness to outsiders. When a threatened Korey yells at Enchanted at the end of Chapter 50, she thinks that everything will go back to normal if only she can convince her parents to leave them alone. If Korey is a jellyfish like she imagines, she worries that he will attack her if they continue to provoke him with phone calls and welfare checks. Korey’s abuse has conditioned her to fear the very things that might save her from his influence.