Chasing the Falconers

The novel’s penultimate section tracks Aiden, Meg, and Miguel as they traverse the eastern half of the country in a Chevy Tahoe stolen from the family whose house they broke into. The chapters offer a combination of high-action scenes—Miguel’s “crazy” driving that enables them to escape the police blockade and Meg’s desperate move to ensure that Miguel goes back to get Adrian from the service area, even at the risk of her own safety—while also presenting moments of significant emotional growth and insight, including Miguel’s discussion of his crime, the revelation that the “Eaglesons” are really the Falconers, and the crushing disappointment of Miguel’s return to his brother’s house. The Resilience and Ingenuity of Youth is tested throughout, and all three characters have occasions to reconsider their views on Innocence and Criminality. Perhaps most importantly, the theme of The Power of Family Bonds becomes increasingly complex, as Aiden and Meg move from tolerating Miguel’s presence because it is necessary to actively including him—almost as a member of their family.

Miguel’s resourcefulness is on full display in the suburban house: He knows exactly where to look to verify that the homeowners are out of town, and he insists that the Falconers drastically alter their appearance so as not to resemble the mugshots that are circulating throughout the country. Although he’s never had a driver’s license, he rises to the challenge of maneuvering the Chevy Tahoe, saving them all from a seemingly impenetrable police roadblock. Aiden and Meg still believe Miguel to be capable of violence, but they tolerate his presence out of necessity: “If anybody was an expert at fleeing the police, it had to be this juvenile delinquent” (82), Aiden thinks. Whatever their reservations about the way that Miguel developed these talents, the Falconers are grateful for his expertise, even though Meg in particular still doesn’t trust him. Nevertheless, the boldness with which she opens the door to the police, playing along with the officer’s misperception of her gender until he leaves without searching the home, draws Miguel’s grudging respect as well.

Just as Meg’s and Aiden’s different modes of ingenuity worked together to help them survive in Nebraska, Miguel’s skills provide what both the Falconer siblings lack—namely, real-world survival experience. Still, Aiden manages to hold his own thanks to another Mac Mulvey scene, preventing Miguel from committing credit card fraud by instead siphoning gas from a larger vehicle. While things don’t entirely go as planned, Aiden holds his own against the two huge men who catch him, and he escapes even though he’s aware that the Tahoe has driven off. While he’s clearly better off with Meg and Miguel, Aiden at least has to entertain the possibility of continuing his journey alone—and he’s willing to take the risk.

Emotional resilience and openness to change are also key themes in this section, as Miguel discloses the circumstances of his manslaughter conviction, and Meg and Aiden are forced by a radio bulletin to admit to Miguel that they are part of the infamous Falconer family. For Aiden, these disclosures are particularly transformative. He leaves an apology note for the family in Chicago that reflects his previous, binary understanding of criminality and identity: “Please believe me—this is not how we usually are,” he writes. “We’re not bad people but we’re DESPERATE!” (94). Gradually, however, he realizes the difficulty of maintaining these distinctions. Siphoning gas may not be as serious a crime as stealing a credit card, but it is still theft; significantly, the only reason that Aiden even knows how to do it is because of his otherwise saintly father.

Aiden’s slow realization that crime is an act of desperation foreshadows a greater revelation about the origins of crime and the reasons that some criminals are behind bars while others walk free. The novel suggests that criminality and criminal justice are more complicated than a simple battle of good versus evil. Moreover, the radio report that identifies the “Eagleson” siblings as the Falconers also reveals that Aiden and Meg are not as innocent as they want to believe. Miguel is genuinely horrified when he realizes that he’s been on the run with children of convicted traitors—kids who have had the gall to call him a traitor for trying to save himself. The revelation of Aiden and Meg’s identities precipitates a longer conversation about justice and criminality, eventually prompting Miguel to reveal the circumstances surrounding his own crime that resulted in the death of his abusive stepfather: “You know what I’m guilty of? Shoving […] How was I supposed to know the jerk was going to fall down the stairs?” (107). He goes on to reflect, “There’s no innocent and guilty, just lucky and unlucky. Think my old lady’s going to blow her savings on a lawyer for the kid who put her husband in the cemetery? Unlucky—same as your folks” (107). Miguel understands that justice is a luxury unevenly applied in society and that his fate is very much determined by his wealth and status. In this way, he deflates the Falconer siblings’ sense of their own exceptionality. Aiden is able to understand Miguel’s plight only because of his own transformation and his own experience behind bars: “Being in jail for something you didn’t even do—we both know what that’s like” (107). Although Miguel does not immediately accept this new commonality, the moment nonetheless marks a climax in their relationship and in the development of the broader theme.