40 pages 1 hour read

Lauren Groff

Arcadia

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

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Part 4

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4 Summary: “Garden of Earthly Delights”

Years later, the world has deteriorated due to climate change: Coastal cities are unlivable, and thousands of refugees from Florida and New Orleans flood inland cities. Abe has created a stocked bunker in Bit’s basement—including a gun. Grete is 14 and temperamental. She comes home past curfew and drunk, and takes out her frustration on Bit. The phone rings and when Bit hangs up, he tells Grete to pack a bag. He was uninformed of Hannah’s ALS, and after a year of struggling with it, she and Abe wrote Bit a suicide note and overdosed on pills together. Abe is dead, but Hannah is in a coma. She wakes up from her coma, and Jincy and Astrid visit. They all return to Arcadia for Abe’s memorial service. Bit is both happy and disturbed to reunite with so many Arcadians. He walks around Arcadia, remembering his childhood. He wonders what to do about Hannah: Bit wants to take care of her but is also angry at her and Abe’s suicide attempt. Astrid helps him arrange a temporary move back to Arcadia, where a nurse, Luisa, has been hired to take care of Hannah; Grete will change schools.