73 pages • 2 hours read
Richard WagameseMedicine Walk
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A 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 24-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 24 Summary
Eldon dies. Frank senses Eldon get up and “leave in the darkness” (235). In a symbolic gesture, Frank sits up and throws wood on the fire that “sent embers arcing high into the night and he watched climb and peak and fall” (235). After a time, he reaches over and draws the outline of Eldon’s face with his finger. Frank traces the lines of his own face with the same finger. Frank places his hand on Eldon’s heart, and Frank does the same with his own heart: It is “like a benediction” (236).
Chapter 25 Summary
Frank buries Eldon. After he places Eldon’s body in the ground, he fills in the hole and says, “War’s over, Eldon […] I hope when you get to where you’re goin’ that she’s standing there waitin’ for you” (238).
Chapter 26 Summary
Frank rides home and finds Bunky working on a carpentry project in the barn. Without saying anything, Frank starts to help him. They talk about Eldon, and Bunky expresses his sympathy. Bunky says that Eldon “had a weight to him like he was luggin’ sacks of grain uphill but he never spoke of it” (243). Frank doesn’t know how to feel, and Bunky says that loss can leave a hole in one’s being. Bunky advises Frank to go “to where the wind blows” (244) to cope with the loss. Frank rides into the wilderness again and looks down on a valley where he sees a vision of Indigenous families traveling through in the distant past.
Chapters 24-26 Analysis
Frank finally understands Eldon and can bury him properly with respect and forgiveness. Now that Frank knows the story of his mother, he can also offer a final wish for Eldon that includes her. When Frank returns home, he notices that Bunky is working on a project. Frank seamlessly begins to help Bunky with his task, as if Frank had never left. Frank is grateful for Bunky, the hardworking man whose way of life inspires Frank to see things as part of a natural order. Human behavior has natural causes and can therefore be understood and forgiven. Bunky voices such forgiveness and understanding for Eldon, and this helps Frank realize how Eldon’s life fits into a larger pattern of nature. Frank’s last vision is of a procession of Indigenous families from the past, ghosts walking still through the valley—this way of life still lives on.
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By Richard Wagamese
