The first half of the 20th century

The first half of the 20th century becomes a threshold in the novel’s closing pages, where the century’s end coincides with Camille’s invitation for Dean to return to her family. Rather than resolving the story through a broad historical reckoning, the moment gives the turn of the century intimate meaning: Dean’s unsettled travels meet the promise of a home willing to receive him.

The Century as a Personal Threshold

After Dean’s brief stay in New York, he prepares to cross the continent again, traveling by train for five days and five nights in dusty coaches and hard-bench crummies. The narrator and his companions lack the money to travel with him. Against this separation, Camille’s letter welcomes Dean into the century’s next half, transforming a historical milestone into a private appeal for reunion.

Camille’s Invitation

Camille writes that her heart broke when she watched Dean leave with his bag, and says she prays for his safe return. She wants the narrator and his friend to live on the same street as her family, and signs the letter together with Amy and Little Joanie. Her words make the new half-century not an abstract promise of progress but an anticipated shared life, grounded in a household and its relationships.

Historical Time and the Ending

The letter’s welcome offers a tentative settlement after Dean’s repeated departures and crossings. The narrator concludes that Dean’s life is settled with Camille, whom he describes as his most constant, most embittered, and best-knowing wife, and gives thanks for him. The century’s division thus frames a fragile personal outcome: not the end of movement, but the possibility that Dean may return to people who are waiting for him.