56 pages • 1 hour read
Tracey LangeWe Are the Brennans
Tracey LangeFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary: “Sunday”
After her father leaves, Grail tells Kale and the three Brennan siblings that Billy Walsh’s time of death clears all of them of the murder. She also says that a detective in Belfast told the West Manor police that Billy angered a drug cartel in Belfast, and they likely killed him. When they ask if the police found the gun, Grail says they have not. Soon after, she leaves. After they discuss who might have taken the gun, Sunday informs Michael Eaton of Billy Walsh’s death and tells him that she is enrolling in a master’s program and writing a few stories, including a children’s book.
Sunday then walks to Hollis Park and sits on one of the benches. There, she remembers the aftermath of the attack. She reveals that even though she wanted to move forward after Kale returned from his Ireland trip, her guilt caused her to push him and her family away. In a flashback, she decides to tell her mother, and her mother reacts horribly to finding out Billy Walsh attacked her. She shames Sunday and tells her not to tell the family because it would disgrace them and Kale. She also tells Sunday that it is only Sunday’s business. Sunday realizes that her mother likely knew about Mickey’s affair and that the desire to maintain appearances caused her to keep silent about it.
Sunday recalls her last conversation with Kale before she left. She left with the mindset that she would get help for her trauma and then return to Kale, but it did not happen. She takes the Magens Bay postcard out of her bag and notices the writing on the back of it. She sees that Kale had booked the trip there for June 2, just two weeks before she left for Los Angeles. This revelation devastates her, and she stares at the card for a while before getting ready to go. She then hears a familiar voice tell her, “Pardon me…You’re sitting on my bench” (255).
Chapter 20 Summary: “Kale”
Kale is revealed to be sitting on the bench next to Sunday. Earlier that day, Kale went with Vivienne and Luke to look at the houses in Manor Hills. Vivienne tries to get Luke excited about moving there, but Kale thinks it compares poorly to West Manor. When they return to their house, Vivienne tries to decide into which house she wants to move. She asks Kale for his opinion, but he does not appear enthusiastic. Kale then realizes that he does not want to distance himself from the Brennans and that he cannot see him and Vivienne happy together in the future.
Kale tells Vivienne that he can no longer be married to her and that they cannot make each other happy. This hurts Vivienne, who tells him that she knew he valued the Brennans too much. Though he tries to tell her he is leaving her because they cannot be happy together and will still support her and Luke, she dismisses him and says he does not care about her happiness and is abandoning his family. He then confesses to taking a loan out on their current house, and she disgustedly guesses that it was to help the Brennans. She states she is still moving to Manor Hills with Luke and will tell him why Kale left the marriage. She then says that she wants him out of the house after he talks to Luke. He goes upstairs and tells Luke that he and Vivienne will no longer live together but that he will see him every day and that they will always love him. Before Kale leaves their house, Vivienne coldly tells him, “You and that family deserve each other” (262). Kale then has a friend rent out a carriage house for him to stay in for a while.
Later, he reveals his separation and impending divorce to Sunday. She is shocked, but he tells her that he and Vivienne could not make each other happy. He then tells Sunday that he needs somewhere to stay for the night, and she agrees to let him stay at the Brennan house. They happily walk home together in the evening rain.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Denny”
Denny lets Sunday and Kale in the house and is surprised to see them together. Jackie and Shane come home soon after and reveal that Shane’s boss gave him free ice cream for staying and helping him with the inventory. The family then sits at the kitchen table and eats the ice cream together. Sunday tells her brothers that Kale will stay at the Brennan house for the night. Denny initially doesn’t like that Kale left home but predicts that Kale and Sunday will eventually get back together. Denny expects Theresa and Molly to return home the next day, and the Brennans are happy that their family is together again.
Shane then reveals that he helped their father park his truck, and the others express shock that their father was driving at night. When Shane reveals it was two nights before, the other Brennans become nervous. Mickey then returns from Clare’s house, and Shane apologetically says he told them about the truck. Mickey tells him not to worry and that he will not drive the truck at night again. He expresses happiness at seeing his family together and goes to bed. Soon after, Shane goes to bed as well.
The other Brennans stare at each other nervously until Jackie returns and reveals that he found the gun wrapped in Lynn’s green scarf in their father’s compartment. This confirms that Mickey killed Billy Walsh, and they all realize they must make a plan. They will figure out how to protect their father and the rest of their family, no matter what happens.
Chapters 19-21 Analysis
Chapters 19-21 resolve the conflicts in the novel by having the Brennans make peace with the past and establishing Kale as one of the Brennans.
Sunday is in a better psychological state after learning that Kale does not blame her for the miscarriage and after talking to her father earlier in the day. She also looks forward to continuing her education and working on her writing projects. She is beginning to move forward in her life, and she feels that she can finally learn to be happy again.
The Negative Impact of Secrets and Lies is emphasized again when Sunday remembers Maura’s reaction to her miscarriage. Maura’s judgmental response to Sunday telling the truth made Sunday feel like she could not talk to her family, and she also knew that “she couldn’t stay in control of herself around them” (252) if she stayed. Realizing that her mother likely kept Mickey’s affair a secret shows Sunday that the only way to survive emotionally while keeping such a devastating secret would be to cut herself off emotionally from the people around her, which is exactly what her mother did. This realization leads to her decision to leave. The time and opportunities that she lost with her family and Kale still haunt her.
The postcard, a symbol of Sunday and Kale’s promise to each other, appears again in Chapter 19. This time, Sunday notices the booking date on the back, which devastates her. She did not know that Kale had booked their elopement trip and that they would have eloped two weeks after the day she left for Los Angeles.
The Promise motif also appears, with Sunday finding the word on the postcard when she is at the park. The word signifies the devotion and hope she and Kale had in their relationship and the plans they made to marry and start their lives together before she shut down and left for Los Angeles.
In Chapters 19-21, the Brennans finally resolve their internal conflict with their parents by forgiving them for their mistakes and wrongs. These chapters present Redemption and Forgiveness as a Path to Healing by, first, having Sunday come to terms with her mother’s coldness and her encouragement of Sunday’s secrecy. She realizes that her mother felt betrayed after her father’s affair and was overcome by the fear of scandal and social ruin following Sunday’s attack. So, “[L]ike mother, like daughter,” Maura “shut herself off from everything, even her family” (252). Seeing the parallel between her and her mother allows Sunday to give her mother grace and acknowledge that like her, she had been hurt.
Denny and the other Brennans decide to forgive Mickey for his infidelity and Maura for her coldness. Denny states that, “[E]ven his parents had done the best they could. As misguided as they’d been, they thought they were protecting the family” (271). Denny realizes that he had made mistakes like the rest of his family had, and that he needs to support them like they supported him. This reassures the Brennans that forgiving each other and moving forward will bring their family a better life together.
The Importance of Family Unity also drives the end of the Brennans’ characters arcs. When Kale is inevitably forced to choose between his marriage to Vivienne and his relationship with his adoptive family, he chooses his family. He realizes that he does not love Vivienne like he loves Sunday and the Brennans, and that he and Vivienne cannot make each other happy in the short or long term. He decides that he is tired of lying to himself and everyone else, though he plans to still be a father for Luke.
Though Kale and Sunday have to rebuild their lives, Kale knows they have a future together. He takes his place as one of the Brennans, and the family reunites at the kitchen table. The kitchen table motif appears, showing The Importance of Family Unity to the Brennans, who are whole once again. Even with the revelation of Mickey’s involvement in Billy’s death, the Brennans decide that they will protect their father because “that’s what family did” (271). They can sit peacefully, even in the midst of this disturbing truth, knowing that the family will be there for each other.
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