25 pages • 50 minutes read
Éric-Emmanuel SchmittOscar and the Lady in Pink
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 8-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary
Oscar writes his eighth letter after returning to the hospital. He is “paying the price for everything I did yesterday evening” with his exhaustion (73). He reflects on the hospital as his home and confirms, “I definitely don’t want to go away again” (73). Peggy comes to visit Oscar and they hold hands while listening to music from The Nutcracker.
Oscar’s letter is short because he’s feeling too tired to hold the pen. He asks God again to visit him before closing his letter.
Chapter 9 Summary
Oscar’s ninth letter covers ages 70 to 80, a time of great thought as he reflects on a Christmas gift from Granny Rose: a Saharan flower that germinates, blooms, and dies within the span of just one day. Oscar waters it at seven o’clock in the morning and watches the plant live its life throughout the day.
Oscar’s parents are staying at Granny Rose’s home now because it’s closer to the hospital, and they come to visit Oscar. Peggy also visits and reads the Medical Dictionary with him. They look for words relevant to Oscar’s diagnosis, but words like life, death, faith, and God are not listed. Oscar interprets this to mean that none of these things are illnesses.
When Dr. Dusseldorf arrives to check on Oscar, Oscar reprimands him for putting too much pressure on himself: “You’re not God the Father. You don’t give orders to nature. You’re just the repairman” (78). Dr. Dusseldorf is relieved and hugs Oscar, and Oscar finishes his ninth letter begging God to visit him soon.
Chapter 10 Summary
Oscar writes angrily to God because Peggy has left the hospital and gone home with her parents, never to return. Oscar is alone, “bald, weak and tired,” and ends his short letter telling God, “I don’t like you any more today” (80).
Chapter 11 Summary
Oscar writes to God for the 11th time the next day and thanks him for visiting. Oscar awakes early in the morning and observes the emerging color and beauty of the dawn, crediting God for sharing his secret: “look at the world every day as if it were the first time” (82). Oscar looks at the birds, the trees, the light and color as though for the first time. He listens to the noises of the hospital as it goes from sleepy to bustling, thrilled by the happy fact of simply existing. Oscar closes his letter thanking God for sharing this perspective and asking God to give the same experience to his parents and Peggy.
Chapter 12 Summary
Oscar writes to God the next day from the perspective of being 100 years old. Oscar feels good but is sleeping a lot. He summarizes the reflections he’s tried to share with his parents about appreciating life, but he asks God to step in and “finish the job” for him because he’s “getting a bit tired” (85).
Chapter 13 Summary
Oscar’s 13th and final letter is from the perspective of being 110 years old. It briefly tells God, “I think I’m starting to die” (86).
Chapters 8-13 Analysis
This section of the novel serves as the plot’s falling action. Oscar returns to the hospital with a perspective that allows him to reconnect with his parents, solving a major conflict in the story. The Saharan flower that lives its entire life in a single day foreshadows the nearness of Oscar’s death while preparing readers to understand that even short lives can be lived fully.
Oscar continues resolving conflict with other characters when he addresses Dr. Dusseldorf and tells him directly, “Stop looking so guilty. It’s not your fault if you have to give people bad news” (78). Oscar’s frankness startles Dr. Dusseldorf out of his avoidance, and the two share a hug.
When Peggy leaves the hospital, Oscar’s anger towards God reveals that he is still working through understanding God and faith. From Oscar’s fictional perspective as a man in his eighties, Peggy leaving is analogous to the death of his lifelong love, leaving Oscar a widower in his final days. Oscar tells God that he’s sad and angry, but just like other relationships in the story, Oscar is rewarded with a stronger bond when he puts effort into understanding God’s perspective through appreciating the dawn. Oscar finally gets what he’s been asking for: God visits him. Oscar is happy and dazzled by life as he heads into his last days, making his death easier for readers to accept because he offers a sense of closure at having lived a full life.
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By Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
