The Optimist's Daughter Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 3, Chapter 4 Summary

Part 3, Chapter 4 Summary

Laurel is trapped in her parents' bedroom by a bird which is really her grief and anger over the loss she has suffered. She is angry at the indignity that surrounded her father's last days. The grief lets her find the desk in the sewing room where she can bond with the papers of her mother who is really the only one who could begin to understand her rage right now. She gets a perspective on her parents' marriage as well. She remembers that her father thought that loving somebody and giving them what they want should be enough. It wasn't enough for her mother, who had the passion and drive to survive a West Virginia childhood and move to Mississippi as a young bride. She had more than this house or this small town or even that mountaintop could contain. Laurel saw that now. She saw her father as...
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