Later

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 10

Chapters 11-20

Chapters 21-30

Chapters 31-40

Chapters 41-50

Chapters 51-60

Chapters 61-69

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Becoming a Man

One of the ways in which Later conforms to an archetypal coming-of-age story, with respect to fairy tales and folktales, is through Jamie’s transition from the world of women to the world of men. As a child, Jamie lives with two devouring mothers. The devouring mother can take two forms—the overprotective mother who prevents her child from entering adulthood, and the wicked stepmother who seeks to kill or literally devour the child. In Jamie’s life, Tia is the overprotective mother, and Liz is the wicked stepmother.

Eventually, Tia relinquishes her role as the overprotective mother and pushes Jamie to fend for himself. For a boy like Jamie, this involves differentiating from his mother and becoming a man. Part of this differentiation involves confronting and overcoming the wicked stepmother. Jamie eventually accomplishes this task by calling on the demon that represents manhood—both its strength and its danger.

However, it isn’t enough for Jamie to leave the world of women—he must find his way into the world of men. When Jamie needs help dealing with his looming manhood, he realizes that he can’t turn to his mother, so he seeks Professor Burkett, who represents the world of men. Becoming a man is often marked by an initiation. Taking Uncle Harry’s place as Jamie’s father figure, Professor Burkett acts the part of a wise old man who teaches Jamie the initiation ritual that enables him to control his manhood—represented by Therriault/The Deadlight.

In many fairy tales and folktales, to become a man means to become dangerous; a boy makes his first kill or discovers a hidden power. In Later, to become an adult means mastering this danger; an adult man kills only out of necessity, never out of hatred, and never lets his power overpower him. When Jamie masters the deadlight at 13, he becomes dangerous. However, at 17, he knows to only call on the deadlight as a last resort—this decision making him a responsible young man.

Lies and Rationalization

As Jamie grows up, he experiences a gradual initiation into the adult world of strategic untruths—learning when, where, and how to tell lies. At first, six-year-old Jamie believes all adults tell the truth. Mona Burkett tells Jamie that his turkey drawing isn’t good. When Tia assures him that his drawing is the most beautiful turkey ever, they both know she’s lying, but Jamie recognizes that her praise is an expression of love. This is his first conscious experience of rationalization. Tia lied, but she had a good reason to do so. In fact, she lied to express a greater truth—that everything Jamie does is beautiful to her because she loves him.

Tia’s next lie is bigger and less benign. She commits fraud by transcribing Regis Thomas’s final book, but rationalizes it to Jamie by listing everything they will lose if they can’t get the story. Through this experience, Jamie learns that a lie can be justified by desperation. The deception is even easier to justify, as the deceased Thomas doesn’t care about his work being stolen, and the book is being eagerly awaited by publisher and readers alike.

Tia is a generally honest person, so it falls to Liz to show Jamie what happens when lies take over one’s life. Shortly after the Regis Thomas incident, Liz takes Jamie to various cemeteries, testing her own belief in his ability. She persuades Jamie to tell Tia that they went out for ice cream—a lie of omission. Liz doesn’t even need to rationalize her actions to Jamie; he rationalizes for her, telling himself that it’s natural for her to be curious and talking himself out of his sense that she’s doing something wrong.

In tracking Kenneth Therriault, Liz barely hides her true motive from Jamie—the fact that she is doing so to save her job. She manipulates Jamie into joining her by playing on his decency, which she doesn’t share. Furthermore, she continues to manipulate Jamie into rationalizing her behavior for her; Jamie pictures her as a lone-wolf hero saving the day.

In Jamie’s final encounter with Liz, he finally sees how her lies and rationalizations have made her delusional, as she tries to justify her murder of Donnie Marsden. She can no longer distinguish truth from lies, refusing to believe Marsden when he tells her the truth about his lack of a stash. Through his various experiences, Jamie learns that although it may be impossible to live life without a fib here and there, lying too often or too easily carries the potential for destruction.

Dealing With (Inner) Demons

The phrase “inner demons” refers to the fears and emotional scars that accumulate over one’s lifetime. When we allow inner demons to free reign, they limit us, preventing us from accomplishing the things we want to do. In Jamie’s story, Therriault/The Deadlight’s haunting causes him so much anxiety that he flunks tests and fails at swim meets. If he can’t conquer it, he will be unable to attend college, which will in turn prevent him from pursuing the kind of life he wants. Jamie wants to exorcise the demon for good, but this is impossible; he and his inner demon are bound. His only alternative is control, which will always be subject to contest between him and the deadlight.

Jamie ultimately seizes the deadlight and wields it against a more immediate threat (Liz). Like Jamie, many people’s demons are both a source of pain and a source of strength; sometimes, this leads one to develop greater empathy or patience in adulthood. In a perfect world, there would be no demons, but the novel frames Jamie as having the healthiest approach to living with one’s demons (unlike Liz, Therriault, and Uncle Harry).