The Frozen River

61 pages • 2 hours read

The Frozen River

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Part 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 6: “The Rushing River”

Part 6, Chapter 1 Summary: “Ballard’s Mill”

Ephraim receives word from Isaac Foster that Rebecca refused to go to the court date in Pownalboro, citing the traumatic nature of testifying as the reason. Ephraim speculates that North had something to do with Cyrus’s arrest, and vows to figure it out on his forthcoming trip to Boston. He also needs to meet with the Kennebec Proprietors to prove that the family has not violated their lease agreement and should be allowed to keep the mill property.

Part 6, Chapter 2 Summary: “Dawin’s Wharf”

With Ephraim once again gone, Martha focuses on her midwifery. She inspects May Dawin, who is six months into her pregnancy. On her way out, she finds Sam in the barn and notices a piece of lace in his pocket. Martha instructs him to give May daily back rubs to help manage her pain. Before she can leave the wharf, William Pierce intercepts her and demands that she come with him, saying “Sally is dying. And it’s your fault” (341).

Part 6, Chapter 3 Summary: “Pierce Farm”

At the Pierce family farm, Martha finds Sally in labor. Sally’s mother, Bonny, explains that Sally had been able to conceal her pregnancy up until the last three months. Martha realizes that this means Sally was pregnant during the last dance, when she had her secret tryst with Jonathan. After the baby is born, Sally decides to name him Jonathan, after Martha’s son, the baby’s father. At home, Martha records the birth in her journal, and wonders where Jonathan is, since he did not come home that night.

Part 6, Chapter 4 Summary: “North Manor”

Martha decides to make amends with Lidia North and provide her with proper medical care. At the manor, Martha provides Lidia with her much-needed tonic for migraines. After she administers the first dose for Lidia in her bedroom, she snoops in North’s study and finds a letter from North to the Kennebec Proprietors outlining his plan to usurp the Ballard land, and eventually own half of the land in town. Unfortunately, North walks in just as she is reading the letter, and she scrambles to come up with an excuse for being in his study. She hastily grabs some nearby brandy, goes upstairs and feeds Lidia the drink, and then hurries out of the house.

Part 6, Chapter 5 Summary: “Pollard’s Tavern”

Hurrying into the tavern for some comfort food, Martha happens upon her children eating and socializing at a nearby table. Moses informs her that the Boston Militia has returned to town and Martha asks him to figure out if the father of Sarah’s baby has returned along with them. Jonathan soon arrives to join his siblings and, as she leaves, Martha informs him that they need to have a discussion.

Part 6, Chapter 6 Summary: “Ballard’s Mill”

On her way home, Martha realizes that the lace in Sam’s pocket might have significance to the Burgess murder case; she remembers that Burgess took a piece of lace from Rebecca’s dress as a souvenir of the crime he committed against her. This leads her to wonder why Sam has a similar piece of lace, but she cannot yet figure out the answer.

Martha stays up late, waiting to confront Jonathan about Sally’s new baby. He arrives home drunk and, despite his despondent mood, promises to marry Sally. Martha also decides to ask him about what happened the day he and Sam discovered Burgess’s body. Jonathan reveals that the rope he used to haul him back in was covered in blood. The next morning, Doctor comes to the mill with the urgent news that Rebecca is in labor.

Part 6, Chapter 7 Summary: “The Parsonage”

On her way to the parsonage, Martha sees the silver fox once again. When she and Doctor arrive, they see that the baby is not positioned properly for birth, and that it will have to be manually turned within Rebecca if either mother or baby are to survive. Doctor is able to accomplish this task with Martha’s help, and Rebecca gives birth to a baby girl. Rebecca is disgusted by her new child, however, and tells Martha to throw her into the river.

Part 6, Chapter 8 Summary: “The Kennebec River”

Martha cannot bring herself to kill the baby as Rebecca asks. Standing next to the river, she makes the split-second decision to take her to Sarah, who she knows is producing a surplus of milk while breastfeeding Charlotte. Eager to get the baby fed, she rushes to the White saddlery.

Part 6, Chapter 9 Summary: “White Saddlery”

Sarah agrees to care for the baby, and Martha finds that Charlotte’s father, Henry Warren, has returned to Hallowell marry Sarah. While Sarah nurses the new baby, Martha informs Henry that North has been citing him as a witness in the rape case. Henry is shocked to hear this, since he does not actually know North, and vows to write to the court to falsify North’s testimony. Henry also informs Martha that he is the one who bought Coleman’s store.

Part 6, Chapter 10 Summary: “Mill Creek Bridge”

Martha’s horse throws her on her way back home. Laying on the ground with the wind knocked out of her, she sees the silver fox approaching her. The fox licks her nose before running away. She manages to get up and hobble to the mill, but inside, she finds North and his dog waiting for her.

North intends to rape Martha. Thinking quickly, Martha grabs one of Ephraim’s woodworking blades, and chops North’s penis off. She is able to stop his bleeding in time to save his life but feels satisfied knowing he is incapable of raping ever again. Confident that North will not admit what happened, Ephraim takes North to Dr. Page for treatment and brings North’s penis to Rebecca as a form of justice. He also ensures that the family will be able to keep their property, having provided the Proprietors with the necessary evidence in Boston.

Part 6, Chapter 11 Summary: “Dawin’s Wharf”

After the attempted rape, Martha goes to the wharf to ask Sam why he murdered Joshua Burgess. Surprised that she knows the truth, Sam informs her that Burgess had also raped May at the town dance in November. After discovering what had happened and seeing that Burgess had taken a lacy piece of May’s dress as a “trophy,” Sam murdered Burgess and took back the lace from him as a form of vigilante justice. What’s more, Sam reveals that Jonathan helped him to hang Burgess. Martha promises not to tell anyone, approving of the motivations behind the murder.

Part 6, Chapter 12 Summary: “Pollard’s Tavern”

At the scheduled court date in April, Martha discovers that North has returned to his duties as local circuit judge. She’s called to the stand to report that Jonathan is the father of Sally’s baby, as is her duty as a midwife. Before Sally can be fined for fornication, Jonathan pays the fee for her and announces their intent to marry. Martha informs Jonathan that she knows of his part in Burgess’s murder, and assures him that she is not disappointed, telling him to ask Ephraim about Billy Crane.

Part 6, Chapter 13 Summary: “Hallowell, Maine”

In the book’s final flashback, Martha arrives at the family’s new property in Hallowell. In order to feel that she has not abandoned her departed daughters, she brings their tombstones with her to Hallowell. While searching for a place for the stones on the property, Ephraim spots a fox hole near a tree, and tells Martha “that, love, means that we’ll be watched over in this place” (413). Martha finally feels at home.

Part 6, Chapter 14 Summary: “Our Revels Now Are Ended”

One day in spring, Martha hears foxes barking outside and spots Tempest, the silver fox, looking at her from just outside the den. Fox cubs emerge from inside, one red male and three silver females.

Part 6 Analysis

In the novel’s climax—Martha’s harrowing encounter with North at the mill—Lawhon depicts a good versus evil standoff in the form of a sexually violent conflict that underpins the entire story. During this confrontation, both Martha and North’s values are laid bare, emblemizing the ideological warfare that sits at the heart of The Frozen River. Lawhon emphasizes Martha and North’s contradictory values through their dialogue as North accosts Martha, saying: “I am the judge. I decide what is just” (383), and “If you want it, then you must take it... The French and Indians taught me that” (384). His words confirm that North knowingly abuses the court system to fortify his own wealth and power, and validates Coleman’s assertions about the atrocities North committed against Indigenous Americans during the Seven Years’ War. North’s misogynistic, racist, continues as he attempts to rape Martha in an effort to subjugate and dehumanize her both verbally and physically. His sexually violent behavior against Martha becomes representative of entire ideology of misogyny and racial and gender-based hatred that North shares with many other men in their community, emphasizing the ways in which Puritan Shame Culture and Gender Oppression serve as tools to shore up white, male privilege and power in 18th-century New England.

In this violent encounter, Lawhon depicts Martha’s best qualities—her resilience, courage and savvy—as she stalls North using pointed questions that indirectly reveal her own values. When North blames the Wabanaki for his decision to rape Rebecca, Martha challenges him, saying: “You raped her because of the Wabanaki? Because of a grudge held over from some old war?” (383). By outspokenly allying herself with both Sarah and the Wabanaki community—who continue to face immense racialized violence and exploitation at the hands of colonial settlers in Maine—Martha connects both racial and gender-based oppression with the white, male patriarchy and points to the necessity of intersectional feminist ideology where gender equality and racial justice go hand-in-hand. Though Lawhon invests Martha with a modern formulation of feminism here, her Author’s Note includes support for such characterization. However, in Ulrich’s portrayal of Martha, which adheres more closely to the historical record, there is no indication that she felt any particular allegiance to Indigenous people or sympathy for their struggles.

Lawhon invents North’s attempted rape of Martha—a moment not reflected in Martha’s journals or the historic record—in order to fuse the physical and ideological conflicts of the book into a single moment. When Martha swiftly and decisively chops off North’s penis, it represents a triumph of feminist vengeance over misogyny. The blade’s symbolic name, Revenge, has an allegorical ring to it, one of which Martha is keenly aware: “Revenge has done its job. Joseph North will never rape another woman as long as he lives” (388). Martha’s quick thinking thus serves both to protect her from imminent violation at North’s hands and also to end North’s established pattern of sexual predation. In this way, Lawhon’s climactic scene forms the pinnacle of Martha’s heroic role as defender of women in her town. Her decision to save North from dying afterwards is another definitive heroic moment, illustrating her capacity for mercy under even the most trying circumstances. Lawhon indicates that this mixture of ferocity and compassion, which Ephraim refers to as “severe mercy,” defines Martha’s particular brand of heroism, and also makes her an effective midwife (391).

In the novel’s resolution, Lawhon evokes the motif paralleling the animal kingdom and the human characters to an additional layer of metaphor to the already allegorical scene. Ephraim informs Martha that, “Foxes and coyotes are natural enemies,” extending the human dispute between Martha and North into the realm of their animal familiars: Martha’s fox and North’s coyote-dog (393). This comparison simultaneously personifies the animals and suggests that Martha and North’s enmity is a fundamental thing, intrinsic to nature. North’s coyote-dog makes no further appearances in the book, while Martha’s fox flourishes, having several babies in the book’s closing Epilogue. As Lawhon indicates, the fox decidedly triumphs over the coyote, just as Martha triumphs over North.

North’s transformation in his final scenes renders him nearly unrecognizable, displaying none of his previous haughtiness, and instead adopting a meek countenance. Martha observes, “I know that he is in pain. But I think being robbed of the chance to humiliate me before the court hurts him most,” suggesting that North experiences the loss of public power and influence as deeply as his physical mutilation (406). North’s inability to reveal his injury for fear of being humiliated forces him to pretend that nothing in his life has changed. In a highly karmic turn of events, therefore, North’s attempts to silence his victims through fear of sexual humiliation have only resulted in the same thing for himself. In this way, Lawhon provides a momentary reversal of the Puritan Shame Culture and Gender Oppression, which Martha temporarily turns back on her oppressor (North).