To Paradise

The narrative returns to Charlie in summer 2094. She thinks back to when she met her husband; she thought he was kind but was unsure about leaving her grandfather behind. After Charlie agreed, her grandfather secured work for her future husband at the Farm; he also explained that her husband was gay and wouldn’t want to have sex with her. Charlie knows that while marriage equality was once legal and that her grandfather had been married to a man, they are no longer legal in America. Relationships between members of the same sex are tolerated but discouraged, and most citizens are expected to marry and have children. Grandfather explains that he believes Charlie’s husband will take good care of her.

Nonetheless, Charlie has always secretly hoped that her husband would grow to love her and is hurt that the secret notes seem to have come from a man. What she perceives as David’s rejection hurts even more because she also feels rejected by her husband. After David rejects Charlie’s embrace, she sees him lingering in the square, trying to find her. He doesn’t know exactly where she lives, so all he can do is hope to catch sight of her. Charlie does not approach him.

Charlie also goes back to following her husband every week; she sometimes catches sight of the man who lets him into the house where he goes. Eventually, Charlie’s husband asks her if she still sees her friend, and she says no. Charlie asks him what he does on his free nights, and her husband says that he goes to see friends. Charlie doesn’t confront him because she worries “what if he got angry at me and shouted? What if he ran out of the apartment? Then I’d be alone, and I wouldn’t know what to do” (602-03).

Without David to preoccupy her, Charlie pays more attention at work and hears scientists talking about a new order that will close all containment centers. They suspect that this decision means the next outbreak will be so bad that there will be no time to send sick people to containment centers; anyone who gets sick will go directly to a relocation center. There is a greater state presence at the laboratories, and it seems clear that a deadly disease is soon going to be spreading. One day, Charlie asks the researcher to whom she is closest about what is going on. He tells her that there is a new and highly contagious disease; there have been cases in America, but no one knows how much it is spreading.

Charlie thinks about this information. Although borders are closed and no international travel has been permitted for decades, there are always rumors of people occasionally sneaking in. There are also theories that government laboratories manufacture the viruses themselves. Charlie thinks back to her grandfather. After Charlie’s marriage, he moved out, but she still spent a lot of time with him. Insurgents had overthrown the government and were promising revenge against people who worked with the state. One day, while Charlie and her grandfather were walking, armed men ordered him to get into a van. Charlie was upset, but her grandfather told her to go quietly. When Charlie told her husband what happened, he left to see if he could help but returned to say that her grandfather couldn’t be released. About a month later, Dr. Charles Griffith was put on trial and executed.

On the sixth anniversary of her grandfather’s arrest, Charlie is surprised to find a note from David asking her to meet him near the storyteller. Charlie is hesitant to go because she is embarrassed, but she is also lonely and misses her friend. She goes to the spot and meets David. He explains that he works for a man who was close to her grandfather. Before he passed away, Charlie’s grandfather asked his friend to get her out of the country, and the friend has been trying to do so ever since. Now there is finally an opportunity, and the impending outbreak of disease makes it more urgent than ever. Charlie is shocked and argues that she is happy with her life and doesn’t want to leave. David gives her a small package and tells her to look at it once she is alone in her apartment.

Charlie hurries home, unwraps the packet, and is shocked to find her grandfather’s ring inside. He had worn it when she was a young child, but it had disappeared when she was ill. When she asked him about it, he had only given vague explanations. Charlie now wonders if he sent it to someone in preparation for her eventually needing help. Charlie meets David again the following week. David tells her that he is from Britain and has been sent to get her; he has promised not to leave without her.

The narrative shifts back to C writing to Peter in 2074. C laments that he didn’t leave America with Charlie sooner and worries about what her illness and treatments have done to her. In 2075, C describes how Charlie wandered away and was raped by some teenage boys; she was not yet 11 when this happened. C was devastated by his inability to protect his granddaughter. In 2076, as C grows increasingly pessimistic about the dystopian state America is becoming, he sends his pearl ring to Peter. He has vague hopes that if he and Charlie are ever able to escape, the ring might be a helpful asset, and he knows that they might not be able to take much with them. As laws are passed removing marriage equality, C also becomes more worried, explaining that “I had tried to make things better for people I didn’t know, and it cost me my family, and therefore my self […] I cannot do anything else to help the world—I can only try to help Charlie” (631).

Charlie grows older, and C wonders if she will be able to study and pursue a career. He does his best to prepare her for an independent future and wonders if an arranged marriage might be the best way to provide for her. C’s home (the beautiful mansion once owned by Aubrey and Norris) is largely used as a military barracks now. When Charlie goes off to college, C begins to discreetly pursue sexual encounters with other men. As climate change leads to increasingly bad living conditions and political unrest grows stronger, C spends more time retreating into memories of his childhood in Hawaii and his relationship with Nathaniel.

In 2085, Charlie is expelled from college because of her father’s illegal activities. C is distressed for her and tries even harder to plan an escape. Since she can’t pursue her education, C plans to find her a job at a state research facility and a husband. However, he grows increasingly frustrated when marriage brokers warn him that no one will be willing to marry Charlie because she is infertile and has cognitive and interpersonal challenges due to her illness. C is relieved to encounter a man who will marry Charlie: He is kind, intelligent, and well-educated. C makes Charlie’s future husband promise to be discreet if he continues to pursue affairs with men after he marries.

When Charlie marries, C feels peaceful about giving her security and protecting her from loneliness. Looking back, he realizes how grateful he has been to have a partner, a child, and a grandchild.

In 2094, David and Charlie continue to discuss their escape plan. David cautions her not to change her behavior and reassures her that she doesn’t need to prepare or bring anything. He tells her that her husband can come, but he may not want to. Charlie finds herself delaying the conversation, even while David gently urges her to ask him as soon as possible. The increasing prevalence of the disease ends up speeding up the timeline, and David tells Charlie that she now only has days before she leaves. Charlie still can’t bring herself to talk to her husband, and sometimes, she wonders why she is trusting David.

With her departure only days away, Charlie realizes she cannot wait any longer. Her husband is away for his free night, so she goes to the house and uses the secret knock. When the man comes to the door, Charlie explains that she is looking for her husband, Edward Bishop. The man lets her in, and she finds Edward struggling to breathe. The other men assure her that he doesn’t have the disease, but he needs to get out. One of the men, Fritz, helps Charlie take Edward back to their apartment. Fritz and Charlie are stopped and questioned on the way, but David appears and intervenes.

Back at the apartment, Fritz explains that Edward has congestive heart failure but hasn’t known how to tell Charlie. Together, Fritz, David, and Charlie take care of Edward in his final hours. Edward dies the following day, and this loss cements Charlie’s decision to leave: “I was crying because we were both leaving, to different places, and we would be doing so separately” (694). David arranges to have the body taken care of. Charlie gives Fritz the notes that he and Edward exchanged. Then, following David’s instructions, Charlie goes to the meeting point.

She is going to be taken by several boats to Iceland and then eventually to Britain. For security, David cannot travel with her, and she is frightened to go alone. Charlie gets into the boat and hides; as it starts to sail away, she can hear the crew talking about another boat that is approaching. Charlie becomes frightened that she might be apprehended but then feels a sense of calm. Someone uncovers the tarp she is hiding under, but it is not revealed who.

C writes his final letter to Peter in September 2088, shortly before his execution. In exchange for a public execution, C has negotiated that Charlie will be treated well and will keep her job. C also implores Peter to find a way to get Charlie out of America and to Britain: “I don’t care about dying, but I can’t bear to leave her here, in this place, alone” (703). C has a vision of himself after death coming back to look for Charlie, and he describes his hope that she will be able to have a new life in freedom.