67 pages • 2 hours read
Colleen HooverIt Ends with Us
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 29-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 29 Summary
It’s been six weeks since Ryle left for England. Lily goes to visit Allysa, like she does several times a week. Lily has yet to tell her all that has happened between her and Ryle because she doesn’t want to talk about the pregnancy and she doesn’t “want to put [Allysa] in that kind of situation” (312). During the visit, Allysa confronts Lily about sensing that something strange is going on between her and Ryle. Lily breaks down and explains everything that has happened, including her pregnancy. She braces herself for Allysa asking her to work things out with Ryle, but instead Allysa tells her that while Ryle loves Lily, Allysa would want Lily to leave him. Allysa is excited about Lily’s pregnancy and swears Marshall to secrecy about it. Her support makes Lily happy about being pregnant.
Chapter 30 Summary
Two weeks after she tells Allysa and Marshall about the pregnancy, Lily comes home to find Ryle there. He is shocked to find her pregnant. Lily is frightened at first, but Ryle says he won’t hurt her and has even brought Marshall along so that Lily feels safe. When they talk, Ryle apologizes, but Lily feels that he is depicting himself as a victim. Angry, Lily tells him he had no right to have hurt her. Ryle accepts the blame and asks her again to help him. He tries to reach out to her physically, but Lily no longer feels attracted to him, her eyes “telling him that [she] can no longer stand being touched by him” (326). She tells him that she wishes the baby wasn’t his. As he leaves, hurt, she reflects that lashing out at him didn’t make her feel better.
Chapter 31 Summary
Two days after the prior encounter, Lily is invited for dinner by Allysa and thinks about how nervous she is over breaking the news to her mother. At dinner, she offers to take Rylee for the night. Allysa is very supportive of Lily, telling her she’ll be a great mother.
Chapter 32 Summary
Lily decides it’s time to tell her mother. Her worry that her mother will try to convince her to take Ryle back gives her pause, but Lily wants her mother’s comfort during this difficult time. During dinner, she finally tells her mother about her pregnancy and Ryle’s abuse. Her mother responds that the most important thing is that Lily keep “sight of [her] limit” (335), explaining that every instance of abuse blurs the limit until it is nowhere to be found. This is what happened to her with Lily’s father. Ryle, her mother says, might love her, but not in the right way. Her mother knew Lily intended not to say anything good about her father in her eulogy and says that Lily was the only one who stood up for her. She encourages Lily to be brave and bold.
Chapters 29-32 Analysis
In these chapters, Lily tells her mother and Allysa about Ryle’s abuse and her pregnancy. Lily agonizes on whether they will encourage her to stay with Ryle, and how that will chip away at her resolve to have distance, gesturing to a common part of the pattern of domestic abuse, where women are pressured to stay in abusive relationships. Both Allysa and Lily’s mother, however, stress that Ryle has forfeited a future with Lily through his actions. They both urge her to leave him, and their responses echo what Lily had mentioned previously in her entry about her mother, who didn’t have the financial and emotional support that Lily has. Lily now understands how constrained her mother’s choices were.
Additionally, Lily’s mother provides another insight regarding the pattern of domestic violence; the danger of “losing sight of your limit” (335), or becoming more and more tolerant of violence. Both Allysa and Lily’s mother understand Lily’s love for Ryle, but they also understand her anger, which makes Lily feel less alone. This is particularly important at this juncture, as Ryle has returned and Lily sees the love he has for her and her child. Lily’s mother links Lily’s decision to leave Ryle with Lily’s self-worth, stating that while Ryle may love her, “He doesn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved” (336). Her statement echoes Atlas’s statement that Lily “deserves” more than just love and that Atlas should also offer her a better life.
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By Colleen Hoover
