The Great Alone

Cora still feels guilty about uprooting Leni from Alaska, even though Grandma Golliher insists that Leni is happy. While camping at the wilderness of the Hoh Rainforest, Leni teaches her son about his heritage. Cora sees this as a “pressure release” for Leni, who comes on these trips “to re-find herself in nature, to recover whatever small piece of her Alaskan soul she could find, to connect her son to the father he didn’t know and the life that was his by birthright but not in fact” (373). Cora’s mother insists that Cora should forgive herself, but Cora regrets letting Leni see Ernt’s abuse more than killing him.

Meanwhile, Leni tells herself that she is happy. She has just graduated from college, holds a job at a bookstore, and pursues photography night classes. Her son, MJ, is growing up happy and loved. Leni has a good relationship with her mom and grandparents. Despite her comfortable life, Leni misses Alaska and tells her son stories based on Alaskan myths. She hasn’t called Matthew’s rehabilitation center since MJ’s birth, but Leni still cherishes her Polaroids of Matthew. Cora sits with Leni outside and says that she wishes she could see the Northern Lights, to which Leni agrees.