Saving Noah

The narrative takes a darker turn in this section of the novel, with Noah in increasingly perilous situations as he attempts to reintegrate into society. The worsening of Noah’s crisis mirrors the ethical dilemma of how to treat rational and empathetic pedophiles, highlighting The Complexities of Mental Health and Human Nature. Noah’s deteriorating mental health symbolizes the fact that there are no easy answers to the issue, and it is presented as an opening for discussion rather than a guide on compassionate behavior toward potentially dangerous people. The violence against Noah can be read as society’s failure to rehabilitate sex offenders. With sex offenders, especially those who abuse children considered irredeemable, the justice reserved for them is retributive rather than restorative. Though the violence against Noah occurs off-page, its effects are visceral and awful. Adrianne notes that when Noah smiles after he is beaten, he shows “a mouthful of blood” (130). Later, it is revealed that Noah was raped during this ordeal, and the text challenges views held by some people that sex offenders are deserving of anything bad that happens to them. The continued violence Noah experiences, whether from external or internal forces, gains momentum in this section, foreshadows more physical violence, and helps to humanize him. Noah has served his rehabilitation period in the eyes of the justice system, but he cannot escape societal perceptions of him as a one-dimensional monster. That Noah feels deserving of others’ hatred is a testament to the complexity of mental health and human nature.

The textual motif of tough decisions and morally ambiguous choices continues in this section, with Adrianne striving against all odds to do the right thing for her son. After the attack on Noah, Adrianne and Dr. Park plan for him to hang out with Rick, a decision that badly backfires. The adults assume the peer interaction will help Noah, especially because Rick is Noah’s fellow inmate from Marsh. However, the interface ends up triggering Noah, drawing his attention to the fact that he can never be “normal” and have a girlfriend like Rick. He can never lead the life Rick now has. To escape this sobering reality, Noah overdoses. The narrative does not blame Dr. Park or Adrianne for the choice to have Noah meet Rick, since there was no way for them to predict the outcome of the meeting. However, Noah’s overdose does draw attention to The Complexities of Mental Health and Human Nature. Even an empathetic professional like Dr. Park misjudges Noah’s crisis, assuming that meeting with Rick will prod Noah out of his depression because of the power of peer interaction in adolescence. The overdose incident also suggests that people around Noah often tend to underestimate his struggles, implying that he can conceal his emotions until he is alone.

Adrianne deliberately downplays Noah’s challenges because she still clings to the notion that she can have her family back. At the same time, Adrianne is pushed to her limits by her son showing suicide ideation; thus, she reaches out to Lucas for support. Adrianne’s decision to have Lucas talk to Noah backfires and again illustrates her tendency to misread Lucas. Even when she begs Lucas to tell Noah he loves him, she notes that Lucas doesn’t “reach out to hold me, or offer a hand of comfort” (162). Lucas’s cold attitude should alert Adrianne that he is the last person who should be talking to Noah in Noah’s altered mental state, but Adrianne ignores the signs despite acknowledging Lucas’s strangeness. When Noah comes out of Lucas’s room after their conversation, he looks stricken, and Lucas looks blank-faced. Even so, Adrianne assumes Lucas told Noah he loved him, but did so in a robotic fashion, discomfiting Noah. She doesn’t consider the possibility that Lucas may have said something entirely different to Noah.

Lucas’s emotional cruelty toward Noah paints him in an increasingly negative light and illustrates the thematic element of the far-reaching effects of trauma and sexual abuse. His abuse at Reuters has so impacted Lucas that decades later, he turns against his son. Though Lucas does try to meet Noah during his first stint in the hospital, after Noah is beaten and raped, his subsequent coldness toward Noah shows his motive for meeting his son may not have been very warm or tender. That Lucas too is attracted to children is foreshadowed in his response to Adrianne’s request. When Adrianne first asks Lucas to talk to Noah, Lucas accuses her of not understanding the gravity of Noah’s offenses. Lucas claims that, unlike Adrianne, “I’m the one who gets it” (147). The subtext here is that Lucas gets that Noah will never stop being attracted to children, because Lucas has not stopped either. The implication between Lucas’s lines adds to the bleak, suffocating atmosphere of this set of chapters.

Another narrative element that adds to the ominous and claustrophobic tone is the graphic descriptions of the violence against Noah. When Adrianne walks in on Noah throwing up after overdosing, she notes that the floor is covered in “puddles of puke” (154). Later, when Noah is lifted off the balcony after he attempts to die by suicide, he is described as not breathing, his eyes bulging and “wide open in shock and horror” (165). The tense sequence in which Adrianne, and then the paramedics, try to resuscitate Noah amplifies the body horror of the situation. The chapter ends on a cliffhanger, a classic narrative device meant to rachet tension, with Adrianne running toward the helicopter. Noah’s fate is unknown for the moment, creating an atmosphere of tension, fear, and compassion for a character who has committed a horrible crime.

While Noah’s suffering is the focal point of the narrative, it is notable that the novel never details the impact his abuse had on six-year-old Maci and Bella. Instead, the text focuses on abuses against Noah, inverting the nature of abuse and depicting the perpetrator in various states of pain to perhaps reflect the pain he has caused. However, these depictions are not painted as moments to relish in his pain, but rather to humanize him. Further, Noah is presented through Adrianne’s adoring perspective, which casts him in a flattering light. However, it can also be argued that the novelist’s intention is precisely to explore the psyche of the perpetrator and open a conversation as to whether offenders like Noah are redeemable.