Hate List

“Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer’d?” —Shakespeare

This quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nick’s favorite play and a quotation from a section he quoted to Valerie on one of their early dates, opens Part 4. Spoken by Claudius after Hamlet kills Polonius, the question asks: what recourse should this bloody deed be met with: Revenge? Punishment? Honor? Atonement? Is there an answer? Part 4 offers Valerie’s answer, not just to her crime or to Nick’s crime, but to all the crimes that led up to Garvin’s school shooting.

At school, in Mrs. Tate’s office, Valerie accepts information about colleges for a deferral, once she feels ready to return to school. Across from a beaming Mrs. Tate, she explains, “Now that I knew who I wasn’t, I was determined to remember who I was. Who I would become” (390).

In contrast to last year, May 2009 is hot. Valerie notes feeling heat on her and sticking to her, instead of the icy chill running past and through her this time last year, on the day of the shooting. Her entire family attends graduation, as do Dr. Hieler and his wife, Bea, and Briley. Valerie takes refuge in knowing, “Beneath the struggle there would always be that basic love, that safe place to come home to” (394). Watching Mr. Angerson start the ceremony, Valerie reflects on the difficultly of addressing the graduating class, given how deeply some changed after the shooting.

After Angerson, Jessica addresses the crowd first, recounting the events of May 2, 2008, as other students reveal the memorial bench and the time capsule. As Valerie walks to the stage to present her speech and faces the crowd, she takes everything in, showing great growth and selflessness, seeing “everyone, a shifting sea of discomfort and sadness, each person carrying his own pain, each telling her own stories, no story more or less tragic or triumphant than any other” (398). With Jessica’s support, Valerie talks about how people hate. She argues, “I don’t know if it’s possible to take hate away from people. Not even people like us, who’ve seen firsthand what hate can do.” Valerie continues, “You can change a reality of hate by opening up to a friend. By saving an enemy” (399).

The girls proceed to honor each victim by placing a cherished item from each person’s life into the capsule: for Abby, a lock of her horse's mane; a softball for Christy; Jeffrey’s newborn brother’s hospital bracelet; and a quarter, for the coins Mr. Kline tossed to students for correct answers. After adding each of the victim’s items, Valerie leaves, sitting back down, but Jessica remains to add two more effects Valerie does not know about: Jessica adds Nick’s copy of Hamlet to the capsule and then adds Valerie’s book of drawings—Valerie refers to the two items as “my reality and Nick’s escape” (403). The tribute moves the audience to standing applause.