The Pact
Chapter 13: THEN: September 1997
by Picoult, JodiThe chapter opens in September 1997, with high school seniors in a mandatory Health Education class led by Coach Krull, a swim coach whose awkwardness underscores the absurdity of the lesson. Students pair up to practice rolling condoms onto bananas, a task met with nervous laughter and embarrassment. Emily, the protagonist, is relieved her partner is her friend Heather rather than Chris, a boy she seems to have a complicated relationship with. The class devolves into jokes, but the underlying tension is palpable, especially when Coach Krull emphasizes the limitations of condoms, noting their 75% effectiveness against pregnancy—a statistic that foreshadows Emily’s later crisis.
The scene shifts to Emily alone in a bathroom, taking a pregnancy test with trembling hands. The instructions are clinical, but her fear is visceral as she waits for the results. When a faint second line appears, confirming her pregnancy, she reacts with physical and emotional pain, recalling Coach Krull’s warning about the odds of contraception failing. The narrative captures her disbelief and dread, highlighting the gap between theoretical lessons and real-life consequences.
A flashback reveals Emily’s intimate encounter with Chris, whose physical presence dominates the scene. Their coupling is fraught with unspoken tension, as Emily’s mind races with her secret while Chris misreads her reactions as passion. The description of their interaction is charged with irony, as his efforts to please her contrast with her internal turmoil. The moment underscores the disconnect between their experiences and the weight of Emily’s unshared reality.
The chapter concludes at a Planned Parenthood office, where Emily, now confirmed to be six weeks pregnant, meets with a counselor. The sterile, nonjudgmental environment contrasts with Emily’s inner chaos as she grapples with her options. The counselor gently probes whether Chris should be involved, but Emily insists he’s “not in the picture,” prioritizing her college plans over the pregnancy. The financial and emotional barriers to an abortion loom large, leaving her trapped between impossible choices and the harsh reality of her situation.
FAQs
1. How does the author use irony and humor to critique the effectiveness of the school’s sex education program in this chapter?
Answer:
The chapter employs sharp irony to highlight the inadequacy of the sex education program. Coach Krull’s clinical demonstration with bananas and condoms contrasts with the students’ prior real-world experience (“most of them had been rolling their own condoms down actual penises for several years”). The coach’s awkwardness (e.g., stammering over “menstruation”) and McMurray’s crude joke about Heather Burns further undermine his authority. The SKOR candy bar “prize” and Krull’s flippant remark (“it probably feels like [a race]”) trivialize the seriousness of sexual health. This ironic framing exposes the program as outdated, male-dominated, and divorced from students’ actual needs.2. Analyze Emily’s psychological state during the pregnancy test scene. What literary techniques does the author use to convey her emotional turmoil?
Answer:
The author uses visceral physical descriptions and temporal distortion to mirror Emily’s panic. Tactile details (“rubbed at the spots on her stomach where the sharp edges had dug in”) and urinary imagery (“beads of urine still beaded on the plastic”) create discomfort. The countdown (“who could pee for ten seconds?” / “three minutes was a very long time”) stretches subjective time. Internal monologue (“We were always careful”) clashes with Coach Krull’s statistical warning about condom failure rates, showing cognitive dissonance. The “hairline fracture” metaphor for the positive test result physically manifests Emily’s shattered reality, culminating in her doubled-over posture - a fetal position mirroring her unwanted pregnancy.3. Contrast Emily’s two sexual experiences described in the chapter (with Chris vs. the condom exercise). How do these scenes reveal her evolving understanding of intimacy and consequences?
Answer:
The sterile condom exercise (mechanical, public, grade-focused) contrasts sharply with the later intimate scene (sensory, private, emotionally charged). During the class, Emily’s embarrassment stems from social perception (“blushed furiously” at teeth-opening the condom), while with Chris, her distress is internal (“uncharitable thought that maybe he could drive the thing out of her”). The banana’s passive role as a prop opposes Chris’s active “battering ram” imagery. Notably, both scenes involve performative elements - the classroom “race” and Emily’s faked pleasure - revealing how societal expectations distort her relationship with her own body. The juxtaposition shows her transition from abstract health class statistics to visceral personal consequences.4. What societal commentary does the Planned Parenthood scene provide about class and reproductive rights?
Answer:
The scene highlights disparities in access to reproductive healthcare through Emily’s privileged lens. Her “rich girl from a bedroom community” status makes her an outlier among the clinic’s diverse, predominantly lower-income clients. The $325 abortion cost - a prohibitive sum requiring parental or partner assistance she refuses to seek - becomes a class barrier despite her background. Nurse Stephanie’s neutral language (“pregnant,” not “baby”) reflects institutional awareness that not all pregnancies are wanted, yet the financial requirement contradicts this philosophy. Emily’s realization that her community’s affluent facade hides real crises (“things like this did not happen”) critiques how socioeconomic status shapes reproductive autonomy.5. How does the chapter use Coach Krull’s voice as a recurring motif, and what effect does this have on the narrative?
Answer:
Krull’s disembodied voice functions as a Greek chorus, haunting Emily at key moments. His statistics (“seventy-five-percent effectiveness”) resurface during her pregnancy test, transforming from abstract warning to personal condemnation. This recurrence underscores how institutional failures have real consequences - the very system meant to educate becomes a source of retrospective shame. The contrast between his jovial classroom persona (“grinned, adding…”) and the cold accuracy of his warnings creates dramatic irony. By having his voice persist beyond the classroom, the narrative emphasizes how half-truths and awkward silences in sex education contribute to crises like Emily’s, holding the system partially accountable for individual suffering.
Quotes
1. “In his right hand, Coach Krull held a banana. In his left hand was a condom. ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he said dispassionately, ‘take your marks.’”
This opening scene immediately establishes the awkward yet critical nature of sex education in schools, using dark humor to highlight how unprepared adults often are to guide teens through serious topics.
2. “Seventy-five-percent effectiveness isn’t a great form of birth control, at least not for those twenty-five women out of a hundred who wind up pregnant.”
Coach Krull’s statistics-driven warning becomes tragically ironic when Emily later discovers her pregnancy, underscoring how theoretical knowledge often fails to prevent real-world consequences.
3. “The second line came thin as a hairline fracture, and carried just as much pain.”
This visceral description of Emily’s pregnancy test result powerfully conveys both the physical and emotional impact of her discovery, comparing the faint positive line to a painful break in her life plans.
4. “She felt his hand slip between them—he hated it when she didn’t come, too—and she clamped her legs together before she could remember to relax.”
This intimate moment reveals Emily’s psychological turmoil during sex after learning she’s pregnant, showing how her body betrays her attempts to act normally while carrying this secret.
5. “‘I can’t have this baby,’ she said flatly. ‘I’m going to college next year.’”
Emily’s blunt declaration to the Planned Parenthood counselor captures the central conflict between teenage pregnancy and future aspirations, highlighting the impossible choice many young women face.