Chapters 22-24 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 22, Ms. Beck left the apartment almost immediately to meet with Jane, the nurse practitioner. On the way, Ms. Beck stopped at the Harvard Coop to buy a book on Down syndrome. However, the only book Ms. Beck could find was a textbook on how to teach mentally retarded children. The book was dark and depressing, one Ms. Beck would read voraciously during her pregnancy but would disregard angrily later in Adam's life. After paying for the book, Ms. Beck cried in the elevator.

In Chapter 23, Ms. Beck and John called their parents and told them the news, finding them supportive of the decision to continue the pregnancy. The following day, Ms. Beck told Deirdre and Sibyl about the diagnosis only to discover that Sibyl knew everything there was to know about children with birth defects because of...