56 pages • 1 hour read
The Raven Boys
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Chapters 31-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 31 Summary
After finding Noah’s body, Noah acts more like a ghost—appearing and disappearing at random. One day, Neeve tells Blue she sees death around her, and when Blue says the dead person has been dead for a long time, Neeve ominously warns, “There’ll be more before it’s done” (290).
Chapter 32 Summary
One afternoon, Adam is studying at the apartment when Ronan’s brother arrives with news that Ronan is getting kicked out of Aglionby because of his low grades. Adam tells Gansey, who calls Aglionby’s guidance counselor and hints at a donation to the school if Ronan is allowed to stay. The counselor gives Ronan until the end of the year, and Gansey hangs up with a smile “though he was as far away from amused as he’d ever been” (298).
Chapter 33 Summary
Blue goes to the apartment while Gansey is away with his family. Adam and Ronan are there, and while Ronan feeds the baby raven, Adam and Blue look through a box of potentially supernatural things Gansey collected in the area. Adam tells Blue she’s pretty, which makes Blue both tingly and nervous. She tries to explain the prediction about her true love, but she chickens out, instead saying she’s afraid to kiss him because she’s very young. Adam says that’s sensible, and Blue is struck by the thought that “she’d done so much work to appear as eccentric as possible, and still, when it came down to it, she was sensible” (309).
Ronan arrives, forestalling any more discussion about kissing, and shortly after, Noah appears, back to his old self. Seven years ago, someone sacrificed Noah to find the ley lines, and when Ronan asks who, Noah says, “You already know” (315).
Chapter 34 Summary
On his way back to the apartment, Gansey’s car dies. As he gets out to check the engine, Whelk pulls up behind him. Pointing a gun at Gansey, Whelk orders Gansey to hand over his journal and rants about how the discovery of the skeleton will ruin him. In a flash, Gansey realizes Whelk killed Noah, and as soon as Gansey hands over the journal, he punches the gun out of Whelk’s hand and runs for cover. Another car approaches, and Whelk drives away. Gansey’s car starts, and he races toward town, scared of what Whelk will do since his cover was blown, and “wherever he was heading next, he had nothing left to lose” (325).
Chapter 35 Summary
At Blue’s house, she, Calla, and Persephone search Neeve’s room. Eleven months ago, Whelk asked Neeve to come find a ley line, which Neeve refused but later decided to investigate on her own. Persephone hears a noise downstairs and reports back that the raven boys have arrived and, as Neeve enters her room, that “Neeve and Maura came home early” (335).
Chapter 36 Summary
Blue’s group and the boys congregate in the kitchen, where they link all their activities to Whelk’s search for the ley line. The women foresee the ley line being woken in the next few days, and Neeve suggests they wake it because “whoever wakes up the corpse road will be favored by the corpse road,” and they don’t want that to be Whelk (340). Gansey wants to try fixing the situation without waking the ley line or dealing with Whelk. He resolves to fix Noah and wake Glendower, and Blue will go with him.
Chapter 37 Summary
Ronan drives Adam home, and the two boys are very glad Gansey wasn’t killed tonight. Adam gets out, only to have his father meet him on the front porch, furious that Adam lied about how much money his jobs made and didn’t help them pay the bills. Adam’s father hits him, but Ronan returns to fight off Adam’s father. Adam watches them fight, dazed, until the police show up and cuff Ronan. Though his mother silently begs from the house for Adam to keep quiet, Adam tells the police his father hit him and that Ronan was defending him. The words feel foreign, and Adam is struck by the idea “that his father had managed to knock something crucial askew” (350).
Chapter 38 Summary
As Whelk eats a hamburger at a fast food joint outside of town, a nearby pay phone rings. When it doesn’t stop, he answers it, startled to find Neeve on the line, telling him that, regarding his search for the ley line, “I’ve changed my mind” (353).
Chapter 39 Summary
Gansey picks Adam up from the hospital and pays for his treatment, since Adam doesn’t have insurance. The boys argue about the fight with Adam’s dad—Adam mad that he’s not leaving home on his own terms and blaming Gansey. Gansey shoots back that it isn’t his fault Adam’s been a pushover all his life, and Adam storms away, furious. As Gansey watches him go, he reflects on how much he hates that his rich upbringing has isolated him from the other boys, thinking “they were always walking away from him. But he never seemed able to walk away from them” (357). Gansey picks Adam up again before he gets to the highway, and they get Adam’s things from his house.
Chapter 40 Summary
At the apartment, Gansey’s professor friend calls to relay that the ritual to wake the ley line did not go well. Gansey doesn’t think trying the ritual is worth the risk, but Adam disagrees because if they don’t, Whelk will get away with Noah’s murder. As Gansey and Adam stare each other down, Blue remembers Adam’s tarot card from his reading and thinks, “My mother is very good at what she does” (369).
Chapters 31-40 Analysis
The novel’s antagonists become clearer in these chapters as Neeve’s true self is revealed and Whelk’s desire for power overcomes him. Their maneuverings foreground The Delicate Balance of Power. Neeve’s proclamation in Chapter 31 that there will be more death symbolizes her intention to sacrifice someone to wake the ley line. Neeve’s room is full of oddities, even for a psychic, and Neeve’s insistence that they wake the ley line shows how much she wants to claim the power. Her phone call to Whelk jumpstarts her final bid for power and shows she’s willing to do anything, including take advantage of Whelk’s interest to further her own gains. Whelk’s desperation shines through in Chapter 34. He knows the group discovered Noah’s body and that an investigation will point to him as the murderer. Knowing that will end his search for the ley line’s power, Whelk is willing to kill Gansey to secure the power and keep his past actions from being discovered.
Chapter 36 brings everything together and shows how Whelk is at the center of the search for the ley line and the relationship between the groups; he also is the link between Gansey and Noah. It also allows Blue to piece together bits and pieces of Noah’s behavior into something she understands. Noah passed as living before his body was found, though he disappeared for stretches and didn’t eat. After his bones are discovered, he becomes more like a ghost because the group now knows he’s a ghost. Noah’s ability to pass as living appears to depend on those around him believing he’s alive, as suggested by how he changes as soon as the group learns the truth. Noah is more able to maintain his former status when Blue is around, showing how Blue’s boosting powers work for both the living and dead. Noah’s return to his old self when Blue’s there in Chapter 33 suggests her presence lets him call upon extra energy so he can deny his spirit nature. Without that boost, he would act more erratically and possibly become dangerous, as Blue’s family has suggested spirits can be.
Adam’s home life comes to a head in these chapters, linking to the themes of Finding Where We Belong and The Delicate Balance of Power. Adam’s father hates Aglionby and Adam’s friends because he feels like they are an insult to the poor, uneducated life he leads. Adam’s father has always abused him, but context clues suggest his abuse has increased since Adam started attending Aglionby and trying to do better for himself. This suggests that Adam’s father is jealous of Adam’s progress, and instead of dealing with those emotions, he beats Adam to make himself feel strong and to keep Adam feeling small. When Ronan leaps to Adam’s defense in Chapter 38, Adam is forced to make the choice hinted at by his tarot reading in Chapter 16, though it isn’t immediately obvious. By telling the truth about his father, Adam ensures he can’t return home because it will be unsafe for him to do so, realizing that it is not where he belongs, at least for now. This forces him to move into Gansey’s apartment, and while this turns out to be temporary, Adam doesn’t know that yet. Thus, he feels he’s decided to give up his principles to let Gansey support him, feelings that he struggles with throughout the book. He is still discovering where he belongs.
The argument between Gansey and Adam in Chapter 39 continues Adam’s internal conflict. Gansey paying for Adam’s treatment is just another way Adam feels like he’s failed by not having money or status. Adam blames Gansey for what happened, even though Gansey wasn’t there, which shows how wanting something can make us unreasonable. Adam is mad because he feels he’s giving in to what Gansey wants. Thus, he blames Gansey because Gansey always seems to get what he wants, and this feels no different. In reality, responsibility for Adam’s situation belongs to no one but Adam. Adam could have chosen to leave his home at any time and found a solution that didn’t involve moving into Gansey’s apartment. The fact that Adam didn’t do this suggests that he was trying to prove his worth to his father, but after the events of Chapter 37, Adam realizes that he can’t prove his worth to someone who doesn’t want to believe he’s worthwhile. The news of Ronan’s possible expulsion in Chapter 32 motivated Adam to escape his father’s abuse. This series of events shifts The Delicate Balance of Power within the family. Adam couldn’t live with Ronan throwing everything away to help if there was something Adam could do to stop it. Protecting Ronan is important enough for Adam to out his father and give up his principles, and though Adam doesn’t know it yet, this is the moment that opens up his future. He was stuck under his father’s roof, but now that he’s free, he finds new ways to keep his principles without living with abuse.
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