50 pages • 1 hour read
Paula HawkinsInto the Water
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A 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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BetaPart 3, Chapters 72-77 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 72 Summary: “Tuesday, 25 August—Erin”
As she goes for a run, Erin recalls confronting Sean in the car about Nel. Sean lost his temper, bringing up Erin’s “service record” in comparison to his, then kicked her out of the car. Erin acknowledged that “Sean Townsend is a good man” (335) but also that this didn’t necessarily mean anything. Returning to the Wards’ cottage, Erin finds Nickie on her doorstep. Nickie insists that Erin should focus on Lauren because “she’s the one who started all this!” (337). Erin goes to Sean’s house to pick him up for work. Finding him already gone, Erin decides to talk to Helen. In the living room, she finds pictures of Patrick in army and police uniforms, Sean as a child, and Sean and Helen’s wedding. As the main house is empty, Erin tries Patrick’s cottage; she finds a door open and goes inside. Erin pokes around Patrick’s room, finding numerous pictures of Helen in his bedside drawer. Hearing a noise, Erin moves out to the landing and sees Helen downstairs, holding a knife.
Part 3, Chapter 73 Summary: “Helen”
Helen explains to Erin that she cut herself by accident, when in reality she saw Erin go into Patrick’s cottage and followed her there. Helen tells Erin that Patrick’s late wife “was a slattern” (341). Erin questions Helen about Nel, asking if she was a “slut.” Helen becomes uncomfortable and worries about what Erin might want.
Part 3, Chapter 74 Summary: “Jules”
Jules goes to the station to talk to Erin, as Lena has told Jules about Sean and Nel’s relationship. Jules sees Nickie and offers her a ride to her flat. Nickie tells Jules that Erin went to the Townsends’ house and gives her the address, telling her: “If the old man thinks you know something, he’ll hurt you” (347).
Part 3, Chapter 75 Summary: “Erin”
Erin is wary of Helen, as she is unsure of what Helen is going to do—“offer me another cuppa or come at me with the knife” (348). Helen babbles about Patrick going up to the Wards’ cottage every day, saying it’s the same place Sean and Nel would go. Patrick arrives and tells Helen that Erin was sent to Beckford because of a relationship with a younger, female colleague. He insults Erin, who verbally fights back, questioning Sean’s integrity. Patrick tells Helen that he’s scaring Erin on purpose.
Part 3, Chapter 76 Summary: “Jules”
Jules arrives at the Townsends’ house, feeling more confident than she has in a long time. She nearly loses her nerve when Patrick opens the door. As Erin calls to Jules and suggests they go to the station to get Lena’s statement, Patrick insults Jules and says nasty things about Lena: “That one will go the same way as her mother, she’s got the same dirty look about her, filthy mouth, the kind of face you want to slap” (354). Jules pulls out Nel’s bracelet and accuses Helen of killing Nel. Helen insists she found the bracelet. Patrick jumps to her defense, claiming that he put the bracelet in the car after killing Nel.
Part 3, Chapter 77 Summary: “Patrick”
Erin arrests Patrick. Patrick acknowledges that his memory loss is taking him and that he has found a way “to seize control” (358). He thinks: “He wanted to tell his story. If it was going to come out, then he should be the one to tell it, while he still had time, while his mind was still his own” (358). In Patrick’s version of events, Lauren attacked him and he accidentally killed her. He claims he told Sean a “version” of the truth that a child could handle. He also claims that killing Nel was something he did to protect Sean as well.
Part 3, Chapters 72-77 Analysis
History has been repeating itself over the course of Into the Water, largely in reverse order: The story focused first on Nel’s death, then on Katie’s, and in this section, it finally moves to Lauren’s. Though incidents of “troublesome” women date back to Libby Seeton in the 1600s, Beckford’s current problem stems, as Nickie suggests, from Lauren’s death.
Hawkins uses Patrick, who believes himself the arbiter of all women’s behavior, to represent years of internalized misogyny and the rottenness of a culture that protects men from blame, particularly those on the police force. He feels that he has the right to be judge, jury, and executioner—and feels pride in revealing that he murdered his wife, as in his mind, she was violating the rules of “good” womanhood and deserved to be killed. As is almost always the case with the characters in the novel, Patrick’s self-narrative—his own version of the truth—drives his actions and leaves him unwilling and/or unable to view himself as anything other than a “good,” respected man plagued by misbehaving “sluts.”
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