Christine throws the penmanship medal into the bay

Christine Penmark’s disposal of the Penmanship medal is a quiet but decisive act of complicity: unable to return it to the Daigles, she chooses to hide it and justifies that choice as protection for Rhoda Penmark.

Circumstances and Decision

After visiting the Daigles, Christine concludes that she can never return the medal to them. At Benedict, she asks to go to the wharf alone. The request gives her privacy for an action she already knows she intends to take, but does not make the choice feel settled: at the end of the wharf, she stands in indecision before opening her bag.

The Medal in the Pilings

Christine takes out the medal and drops it among the pilings. The disposal removes it from her immediate possession without repairing the harm or returning it to its owners. A prize associated with the events surrounding Rhoda has become an object Christine must conceal, and the wharf provides the place where she tries to put it beyond reach.

Guilt and Self-Justification

As she lets the medal go, Christine recognizes that she is guilty in her own way. She flinches at how furtive and dishonest she has become and at the deterioration of her character under anxiety and guilt. Her justification is maternal: she tells herself that Rhoda is her own flesh and blood and that it is her duty to keep her from harm. The act thus makes the conflict between protecting her daughter and accepting responsibility concrete. Christine’s decision does not dispel her uncertainty; afterward, in a summerhouse, she struggles to reason through her fears and longs to know for certain whether they are justified.