After The First Death

Robert Cormier

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1979

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Part 12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 12 Summary

Miro makes his way through the woods, eluding his pursuers and finally making it to the highway. He watches traffic for a while and thinks about Kate. She made him feel, as did the idea that Artkin was his father. The way the emotions filled him makes him angry, and he vows he will “not let himself be filled with anything again” (233). A man pulls over and gets out of a car to relieve himself. Miro kills him and takes the car, intending to find another operative team to join so he can continue his mission.

Part 12 Analysis

Part 12 shows Miro survived and escaped capture following the attack on the bridge. Kate’s death allowed him to reset himself. With her gone, her influence fades away. Miro returns to the views he had at the story’s opening. He wants to further the cause to regain his homeland and sets out to find other operatives and continue the fight. After a lifetime of training, he could not change. Emotions prove to be more than he can or will handle, and he returns to what feels comfortable. Killing the man who pulls over to relieve himself shows that Miro’s character arc has come full circle, only now the killing comes with ease.