Still Alice

These short, final chapters serve primarily to wrap up the events of the novel. We learn in September that Alice may very well have been on Amylix, even as it failed its trial. John weeps openly in the coffee shop in response, and it is important to recall that John didn’t want her to do the trial, believing the safer route was the better option. It would be tempting to argue that John’s earlier argument is vindicated. However, three things belie that: first, no treatment offered true improvement, only delayed deterioration; second, Dr. Davis also argued for the Amylix trial; and third, and most importantly, Alice chose to take the risk, and therefore maintained as much control over her eventual fate as she could. As one of Alice’s biggest concerns was her loss of agency, it is important to her that she maintain that agency.

This also calls to mind her renewed relationship with Lydia, who always went against the grain. Anna and Tom are risk-averse; they make the safe choices, and, earlier in the novel, Alice appreciates that about them while failing to understand Lydia’s desire to take risks, such as her move to Los Angeles and disdain for the notion of a college degree, likely particularly biting as the daughter of two college professors. Yet, one of the most important choices Alice had to make was a risky one, more in line with a decision Lydia would make than one Anna or Tom would make. Likewise, the emphasis Alice begins placing on love and passion, rejecting the more traditional or professional markers of a “good life,” is more reflective of Lydia, even as Lydia grows more in line with her mother and finally undertakes a college education. While Alice led a very successful life by traditional standards, this Alice has little to no knowledge of those achievements. What she does know, though, is the love of her family, and as a part of that family, she remains herself.

The final scene mirrors this shift. It is significant in the first place that Lydia is working on lines with her mother as the audience since, a little more than a year prior, Alice had never even seen Lydia act and argued persistently for her to give it up and get a degree. More importantly, though, is the emotional connection the two now share. Alice, for all intents and purposes, has lost her language, as she feared she would; she struggles to form words and struggles to follow what people say around her, so following Lydia’s monologue would be nearly impossible. This proves to be unnecessary, though; she is able to follow the emotional arc, and therefore able to take from it exactly what Lydia wants her to.