Wish You Were Here

The final chapters of the book see two major events: the death of Diana’s mother and the conclusion of Diana and Finn’s relationship.

Hannah’s passing, and the circumstances that surround it, eerily echo the way in which it took place in Diana’s imagination on Isabela. However, while the Covid outbreak at the facility and Hannah’s eventual death caused by the virus remain the same, other aspects of the situation differ greatly from how it presented earlier. While the first time Diana was forced to be absent from her mother’s side due to the virus, this time around Diana is present at her mother’s side despite the virus, even to the point of inviting Finn’s ire because of it. Similarly, while Diana was unable to connect with or talk to her mother when she fell ill in the imagined reality, in this situation, Hannah is lucid enough to reminisce about Diana’s childhood with her. The two memories that Diana recalled in Part 1—the pediatrician visit incident, and toddler Diana taking photos of Hannah—are both rehashed again; however, they are both placed in very different light now and give Diana the closure that she needs. This, in turn, leads to the drastically different reaction that Diana has to her mother’s death.

Chapters 15-17, which point to Diana’s state of mind after her mother’s passing, echo Chapters 7-10 from Part 1 in their length and structure; they also are concerned with a metaphorical kind of drowning—in grief, instead of water. In an ironic mirroring, the circumstances of drowning at sea from the first set of chapters, while a physical situation, belonged to an imagined world; the circumstances of drowning in grief, however, while an emotional experience, nevertheless belongs to actual reality. Picoult places the tangible experience within an imagined reality and the intangible one within the real world to emphasize the subjectiveness of reality and the validity of lived experience.

This same idea is what seems to drive the plot line around the deterioration of Diana and Finn’s relationship. Although Diana seems to have experienced a vastly different reality from Finn, it is ultimately the same set of circumstances, lived differently, that have catalyzed a change in both Finn and Diana—Diana almost dying of Covid. For Diana, this meant experiencing life on Isabela while on the ventilator; for Finn, it was watching Diana almost die, while simultaneously attending to a number of other patients battling the same disease. Thus, the differing experiences of the same situation force both characters to move along different paths—constant confrontation of mortality, especially that of a loved one, causes Finn to hold on tight to the relationships in his life, seeing him try to work at and repair things with Diana. Diana, however, having experienced a successful adaptation to a challenging set of circumstances when on Isabela, sees that it is possible to shed what does not fit right anymore and move forward. These differing responses and the subsequent attitudes that they shape are what respectively lead Finn to propose to Diana, and Diana to reject his proposal, in the last chapter.

Along with the subjectiveness of reality, Picoult also toys with the possibility of the existence of simultaneous, alternate realities. Diana’s conversations with Rayanne and Eric both reinforce this idea. In the case of the first, the idea is very gently put forth, in what Rayanne says to Diana. Although Diana does not explore the idea further, the possibility of a mystic explanation for Diana’s experiences has already been laid on the table. A similar sense of mystery is invoked in how Picoult chooses to end the story in the epilogue—a callback to how Gabriel and Diana first met, with no revelation as to whom Diana actually sees, when she turns.

The conversation with Eric, while also calling on the strange and inexplicable, serves as a kind of foreshadowing of how Diana and Finn’s relationship will eventually end. Diana, just like Eric, continues to hold on to the memories of her alternate life with a longing for it to have been real. Eric’s story demonstrates a possible path that this will lead her down—forfeiting parts of her life that don’t fit into the story proposed by the alternate reality. Eric lost his fiancée, changed religions, and is still searching for the wife and child from his dreams; similarly, by the end of the story, Diana is no longer in a relationship with Finn, has changed careers to art therapy, and is back at the Galapagos once again.

Diana’s return to the Galapagos is also hinted at by her conversations with Kitomi—it is the widow who gives Diana the idea on the same day that she later talks to Eric. Kitomi also serves another symbol of adaptation and evolution—she tells Diana that she is, in fact, moving to Montana in memory of her dead husband; however, she has decided against selling the painting, and is taking it along with her. Kitomi’s decision does two things for the story: First, it serves to indicate the end of Diana’s career in art business—it was securing this deal that had earned Diana her boss’s respect, and there is not much chance of her being called back at Sotheby’s after having been furloughed if the sale does not exist anymore. Second, it points to a parabolic trajectory that the novel follows.

Kitomi is still in the same place that she was when the book started, vis-a-vis her move to Montana; however, there is one major change that exists, which is her decision to take the painting with her, owing to her having finally come to terms with what her husband’s death means. Diana re-experiences her mother’s death in a similar set of circumstances, however, Diana’s actions, presence, and responses in these circumstances are all vastly different, owing to her own personal growth.

The epilogue, too, shows a set of circumstances that are similar to those from the beginning of the book, yet with significant differences. Diana is still living in New York, but she now shares an apartment with Rodney; Diana and Rodney both work in art, but while Rodney is back at Sotheby’s, Diana has a practice in art therapy; Finn continues to be in a serious relationship, but with a different person; Diana is also traveling back to the Galapagos alone, but this time in a completely different mind space than the one she was in when she first arrived alone. In doing this, Picoult also ties up the narrative by placing the story back in the setting that inspired the epigraph of the book.

All of this points back to the anecdote of Diana and her father painting the ceiling from the very first chapter, in which the idea is presented that one can only tell how far one has come by knowing where one started. Thus, Picoult presents different settings that serve as reminders of the starting points of various characters and plot lines; and yet, there are significant differences—all of which exist owing to some growth or evolution.