A Life Outside the Old Name

The North Water

Sumner’s final flight offers the possibility of reinvention, but his encounter with the caged bear suggests that escape does not dissolve memory or need.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Survivor’s Refusal The Survivor’s Refusal from "The North Water". Silence About the Voyage Baxter offers a public story Jacob Baxter encourages Sumner to tell the widows and orphans what happened.

The Survivor’s Refusal from "The North Water". Silence About the Voyage Baxter offers a public story Jacob Baxter encourages Sumner to tell the widows and orphans what happened.

Silence About the Voyage Baxter offers a public story Jacob Baxter encourages Sumner to tell the widows and orphans what happened. Sumner refuses, believing that the truth will not help them now. The past remains active Although Sumner says he wants to leave the voyage behind, he still plans to search for Henry Drax. Silence is not the same as forgetting.

A False Name A False Name from "The North Water". A New Identity Begins Escape across the countryside Sumner leaves Baxter’s house with a horse and money.

A False Name from "The North Water". A New Identity Begins Escape across the countryside Sumner leaves Baxter’s house with a horse and money.

A New Identity Begins Escape across the countryside Sumner leaves Baxter’s house with a horse and money. He tells an innkeeper that his name is Peter Batchelor and invents a family errand. Reinvention as necessity The alias is a practical response to a murder charge and a corrupt conspiracy. It does not yet make Sumner feel that his former self has disappeared.

The Wanted Man The Wanted Man from "The North Water". The Public Story Turns A newspaper accusation Sumner reads a report naming him as the suspect in the Hull murders and describing Baxter’s reward for…

The Wanted Man from "The North Water". The Public Story Turns A newspaper accusation Sumner reads a report naming him as the suspect in the Hull murders and describing Baxter’s reward for…

The Public Story Turns A newspaper accusation Sumner reads a report naming him as the suspect in the Hull murders and describing Baxter’s reward for information. No stable refuge He boards a train and seeks foreign voices at the docks. A new country may offer anonymity, but he still must negotiate passage as a hunted man.

A Passage to Hamburg A Passage to Hamburg from "The North Water". A Bargain Abroad The captain’s questions Sumner asks a Swedish captain for a berth.

A Bargain Abroad The captain’s questions Sumner asks a Swedish captain for a berth. The captain challenges him about how many men he has killed and refuses to take passengers. Money opens a door Sumner offers sovereigns until the captain agrees to take him. The bargain gives him a route away, not assurance that the past can be left behind.

The Caged Bear The Caged Bear from "The North Water". A Face Across Bars A new life in Europe Under a new name and in new clothes, Sumner visits the Zoologischer Garten.

The Caged Bear from "The North Water". A Face Across Bars A new life in Europe Under a new name and in new clothes, Sumner visits the Zoologischer Garten.

A Face Across Bars A new life in Europe Under a new name and in new clothes, Sumner visits the Zoologischer Garten. He appears to have escaped immediate pursuit and entered an ordinary public world. The past looks back A shabby caged bear fixes him with its gaze. Sumner feels fear, loneliness, and need, suggesting that reinvention has not removed his memories or capacity for attachment.

After arriving in Hull

The morning after the Hull confrontation

While traveling north from Hull

The night before departure from Middlesbrough

One month later in Berlin