The Hennigers’ culpability for Driss’s death

The Hennigers’ culpability for Driss’s death is both confessed and evaded: Jo Henniger accepts that their drinking and David Henniger’s driving made them responsible, while David’s final thoughts reveal that he has granted himself forgiveness without recognizing that it is not his alone to give.

Confession and Shared Responsibility

Jo discloses the couple’s drinking to Richard Galloway, describing it as a shared problem while distinguishing her own drinking from David’s more severe dependence. She connects the alcohol directly to his poor driving and rejects any account that would shift blame onto Driss. The boy, she says, did nothing wrong except step into the road and try to make them slow down. Her conclusion is unequivocal: the collision was entirely their fault.

Jo’s confession is not presented as a new revelation to Richard. She anticipates that he will keep it from the police and argue that the disclosure cannot change what has happened; Richard replies that he already knew, because the truth was obvious. The exchange therefore makes the confession less an uncovering of unknown facts than Jo’s attempt to say aloud what she can no longer carry in silence.

Responsibility and Self-Forgiveness

The later account of David’s death brings the question of responsibility back to his consciousness. As Ismael approaches the Hennigers’ car, David recognizes him and understands that the attack is connected to his earlier act of burying Driss’s identification card. In that final moment, David thinks that the idea of freedom of choice is absurd and that there was nothing he could have done either way. Yet the narration also makes clear that he does not understand why he has not been forgiven: he has already forgiven himself.

That distinction leaves the moral question unresolved rather than absolved. Jo has named their responsibility, and David’s own memory of concealing Driss’s identity remains present at the moment of his death. But his self-forgiveness does not amount to forgiveness from those harmed by his actions, and the scene ends before he can speak an apology to Ismael. His remorse is real in that last instant, but it arrives without repairing the damage or settling who has the authority to forgive.