Enemy Women: Chapters 17-24

This section starts with the funny scene where the old couple are arguing about what she will wear to be buried in and the hat comes flying out the window.

Adair shows again how resourceful she is in this section. The hat was her disguise to make her feel more like a lady than a escaped convict and then when she stole the grip she thought she was all set. What a funny picture she must have presented running down the streets of St. Louis wearing a dress many sizes too large, a hat with cherries on top and purse/suitcase that obviously didn't match either item.

This section really drew me into the book. I think chris is right about how amazingly resourceful Adair is, and what a survivor. Her brattiness in the first few chapters makes sense now - it's unlikely that a polite, docile, unable-to-think-for-herself type would be able to do what Adair has done to keep herself alive.

The descriptions of the battle, and of the captain's arm swelling up because of the shrapnel stuck inside make me cringe. Ewww. And why doesn't he get it treated?

My big question at this point is why is she going home? No one is there - father, brother, sisters are all elsewhere and/or possibly dead. Is it just because she's feverish and wants to go somewhere familiar?

So glad she found her horse, and stole it back from those thieves. Good for her!

He doesn't get the arm treated, because the treatment would be amputation. Remember, no antibiotics back then! I was worried about gangrene in the arm that would eventually kill him if he didn't have the amputation in time. Not that I blame him - remember the leg floating in the water with the shoe still on it? Eww.

I was also worried about Adair and her "consumption". Do you think that was a catch-all diagnosis for any kind of lingering respiratory condition, or does she really have TB?

I'm glad she was able to rest and recover at the Spencer home - but that whole episode left me a little confused. I know they dealt in stolen property, but they didn't steal Whiskey from Adair, and couldn't have known he was her horse. During the war, everyone did whatever they had to to get by. Why does Adair feel compelled to steal from their home - she is acting like she feels endangered, but I never thought she was - not as long as she didn't report them to any authorities, anyway. Did I miss something?

I agree with your observation that what looked like brattiness in the beginning has evolved into resourcefulness and self-reliance here. Adair becomes more admirable, I think. I'm not sure what I think of the Captain, now. His injuries were unavoidable - but I don't understand why he wanted the transfer to the front line. Why didn't he just stay in St Louis, safe and sound? I didn't buy his musings on the riverboat about how alike he and Adair really are and how he just wanted to come back for her at the end. What convinced me that he is sincere was when he realized that "if he had not given Adair the signet ring it would have been blown off and lost in the flour somewhere." But now that I read that again, I'm at a loss to say why I found it convincing.

At this point, there isn't much to be optimistic about, is there?

I was wondering that about the "consumption", too. I'm guessing it's just a catch-all for respiratory illness, because I'm almost certain that TB infection and illness is not similar to Adair's symptoms. I am still worried - I really don't want her to die before she meets the captain again, and I'm afraid she will. I'm also afraid that his arm is going to rot off. Was there a higher death rate for amputations than for infections back then? I'm thinking gangrene too, and hope that we won't be treated to any descriptions of that.

re: stealing from the Spencers. The way I interpret it, Adair is sick and feverish (and no one thinks well when feverish), and worried about being caught and sent back to prison, and ends up with this family of thieves. I think she's not so much compelled to steal from them as she doesn't see it as morally wrong to steal from them. Instead, it's almost a triumph, especially since they have Whiskey. I'm not sure that in Adair's brain, she recognizes that they weren't the cause of her losing her horse. They have him, he belongs to her, therefore they are to blame.

I don't see a happy ending coming, but I hope I'm wrong. I really don't want Adair to die, and it's taking some willpower not to flip to the last page and find out.

I felt that Adair was in danger at the Spencer's house- but I'm not quite sure why in the begining. By the end though I thought it was quite obvious when she found the grave in their backyard-this means if their not killing people then they are covering up for someone! Where does chapter 24 leave off at I'm finished and don't have my book with me...