Plain Truth: A Novel
Jodi Picoult’s Plain Truth (2000) is a legal drama and cultural exploration set in Pennsylvania’s Amish community. The novel centers on Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish teenager accused of murdering her newborn after the infant’s body is discovered on her family’s farm. Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned defense attorney, takes on Katie’s case and must live among the Amish as part of bail conditions. The story examines clashes between modern justice and Amish traditions, themes of secrecy, faith, and maternal bonds. Picoult weaves courtroom tension with insights into Amish life, culminating in revelations about the infant’s death and Katie’s hidden trauma. The novel is noted for its research into Plain Sect culture and moral ambiguity.
TWO
byPicoult, Jodi
The chapter opens with Ellie, a successful Philadelphia defense attorney, haunted by nightmares of six young girls whose abuser she successfully defended. Despite the professional triumph that elevated her career, she grapples with guilt over suppressing evidence that could have convicted her client. Her partner Stephen celebrates her victory, arranging a celebratory dinner and revealing that his prestigious law firm wants to recruit her. However, Ellie’s internal conflict surfaces when she breaks down in the restaurant bathroom, tormented by the moral cost of her legal victory.
Ellie’s personal struggles deepen as she reflects on her eight-year relationship with Stephen and her unfulfilled desire for motherhood. Their tense exchange reveals fundamental disagreements—Stephen, who already has an adult daughter, dismisses adoption or alternative paths to parenthood. The argument escalates when he mishears her criticism, highlighting their growing communication rift. Ellie’s emotional turmoil contrasts with her meticulous preparation for the law firm meeting, where she aims to secure a senior partnership, suggesting a divide between her professional ambition and personal dissatisfaction.
As Ellie drives to the meeting, Stephen’s “kick-ass” playlist underscores her attempt to channel his confident demeanor. However, her reckless lane change and near-accident betray her inner instability. The chapter juxtaposes her outward success—symbolized by the luxury suits and high-stakes career move—with her private unraveling, from the bathroom attendant’s pointed remark about “stains” to her visceral reaction to the roses from her acquitted client.
The narrative captures Ellie’s crisis of identity: the idealistic lawyer she once aspired to be clashes with the ruthless professional she has become. Her relationships—with Stephen, her career, and her own conscience—are fraying under the weight of compromises. The chapter ends on a note of dissonance, with Ellie’s forced confidence (“Senior partner… $300,000”) undermined by the steering wheel’s ominous jerk, mirroring her loss of control over her life’s direction.
FAQs
1. What internal conflict does Ellie experience after winning her high-profile case, and how does this reveal her changing professional values?
Answer:
Ellie experiences significant moral distress after successfully defending a school principal accused of molesting six young girls. While the verdict represents a career triumph that elevates her reputation and brings lucrative opportunities, she privately grieves for the victims and regrets suppressing evidence that might have secured a conviction. This conflict reveals her shifting professional values—where she once aspired to be a principled attorney (as she imagined during law school), she now recognizes how winning at all costs has compromised her ideals. The bathroom attendant’s symbolic remark about permanent stains (“some stains ain’t never gonna come clean”) underscores Ellie’s guilt over her role in perpetuating injustice.2. Analyze how the tension between Ellie and Stephen reflects broader themes of personal vs. professional fulfillment.
Answer:
Ellie and Stephen’s argument exposes divergent priorities: Stephen celebrates her career success and encourages her to embrace the rewards of their cutthroat legal world, while Ellie grapples with ethical doubts and unfulfilled personal desires (notably her longing for a child). Their exchange about adoption (“some Chinese kid left on a mountaintop”) highlights Stephen’s resistance to disrupting their status quo, contrasting with Ellie’s growing awareness that professional accolades cannot compensate for personal emptiness. The chapter frames their relationship as a microcosm of broader tensions between ambition and authenticity, where Stephen’s focus on external validation clashes with Ellie’s need for internal reconciliation.3. How does the author use symbolism to convey Ellie’s emotional state in this chapter? Provide two examples.
Answer:
The chapter employs potent symbolism to reflect Ellie’s turmoil:- The roses: When Ellie throws away the roses from her acquitted client, the act symbolizes her rejection of hollow victories and her disgust at being complicit in harm. The single rose Stephen retrieves and places behind her ear becomes a fleeting, superficial attempt to mask deeper fractures in their relationship.
- The nightmare children: The recurring image of six girls in uniforms represents Ellie’s guilt over betraying the victims, while the faceless baby symbolizes her unresolved grief over missed motherhood. Together, these symbols underscore her sense of moral and biological expiration (“the prelude to a bomb”).
4. Evaluate how Ellie’s preparation for her meeting with the law firm partners illustrates her approach to professional challenges.
Answer:
Ellie’s meticulous preparation—selecting a confidence-inspiring suit, rehearsing assertive phrases in the mirror, and allowing excessive travel time—reveals her disciplined, perfectionist approach to career advancement. However, her anxiety (e.g., drinking decaf to avoid trembling hands) hints at underlying insecurity. The contrast between her external professionalism and internal self-doubt mirrors her broader conflict: she performs success convincingly but feels increasingly alienated from her achievements. Notably, her reliance on Stephen’s “kick-ass” music tape suggests she still draws validation from his worldview, even as she begins to question it.5. What foreshadowing exists in the chapter’s final scene, and how might it relate to Ellie’s character arc?
Answer:
The abrupt lane change and near-accident (“the steering wheel jumped beneath my touch”) foreshadows impending disruption in Ellie’s controlled life. This moment of uncharacteristic recklessness—amplified by blaring music that drowns out external warnings—symbolizes her growing instability and hints at a potential breakdown or radical life change. The physical loss of control mirrors her emotional and ethical unraveling, suggesting she may soon abandon her carefully constructed persona. This aligns with her arc toward self-reckoning, as the chapter establishes her dissatisfaction with both her relationship and career trajectory.- The roses: When Ellie throws away the roses from her acquitted client, the act symbolizes her rejection of hollow victories and her disgust at being complicit in harm. The single rose Stephen retrieves and places behind her ear becomes a fleeting, superficial attempt to mask deeper fractures in their relationship.
Quotes
1. “I watched them all grow up in an instant, you see; at the very moment a jury foreman acquitted my client, the elementary school principal who had molested them.”
This opening line powerfully introduces Ellie’s moral conflict - her professional triumph as a defense attorney clashes with the haunting consequences of her victory for the child victims. It sets the tone for the chapter’s exploration of ethical compromises in the legal profession.
2. “Honey, some stains ain’t never gonna come clean.”
The bathroom attendant’s poignant remark serves as a metaphor for Ellie’s growing awareness that her professional success has left an indelible moral mark. This moment represents a turning point in her self-reflection about the cost of her career choices.
3. “Did I mention: Stephen and I had lived together for eight years.”
This abrupt, standalone sentence reveals the depth of Ellie’s personal and professional entanglements. It underscores how her relationship struggles mirror her career dilemmas, showing how both spheres of her life involve difficult compromises and unfulfilled desires.
4. “Does it ever bother you? That once you’ve crossed the line, you can’t go back?”
Ellie’s question to Stephen captures the chapter’s central theme of irreversible choices. This moment reveals her growing disillusionment with both her legal career and personal relationship, as she confronts the permanent consequences of decisions made years earlier.
5. “Senior partner. And anything less than $300,000 a year is unacceptable.”
This self-affirmation before her important meeting shows Ellie’s attempt to reconcile her moral qualms with professional ambition. The juxtaposition of this confident declaration against her earlier doubts highlights the tension between ethics and success that defines her character.