50 pages • 1 hour read
Julia FoxDown the Drain
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Key Figures
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaChapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Homecoming Fiend”
Trisha and Ace pick up Julia from the airport when she arrives in New York. They take her to “a massive doorman building on Riverside Drive” (97). A high schooler named Patrick owns two apartments in the building. One unit is empty, and Patrick lets Julia and her friends stay there. Patrick makes counterfeit money, and Julia offers to help. She and Trisha take the bills to the bodega to see if they work, but the cashier knows they’re fake. Ace is furious when they return and attacks Julia for leaving without telling him where she is going. Julia tries to defend herself, but Ace stays angry.
One day, Ace tells Julia he will “beat up” some of Patrick’s private school enemies. Julia warns him not to, but he forces her to come along, and he attacks the kids with brass knuckles in the street. Someone reports Ace to the police, who issue a warrant for his arrest. Back at the apartment, Julia shows Trisha her return ticket to Italy while Ace goes out to purchase cocaine. Later that night, he finds the ticket and tears it up.
Julia and Trisha spend the next few weeks at Trisha’s. Julia misses her flight, and Ace misses his court appearance due to physically attacking the high schoolers. He’s convinced they’ll send him back to prison at Rikers Island, as he’s already served time for manslaughter in the past.
One day, Julia discovers that her parents have hung missing posters of her face around the city. Worried, she tells Ace. Later, she overhears him and his friend making plans to turn Julia in for a reward. Julia calls Tom and says she’s okay but urges him to stop looking for her and not give anyone ransom money should they call him. One morning, the police show up at Trisha’s, where Julia, Trisha, and Ace have been hiding. Trisha’s dad forces Julia and Ace to leave. Ace takes Julia to his mom’s apartment in the Bronx. For weeks, Ace forces Julia to stay in the apartment alone. He only lets her venture out for fast food with him after dark. One night while he’s gone, Julia talks to Ace’s mom. She reveals that Ace’s dad was violent, too. She also opens a court summons for Ace, and Julia learns that his real name is Simon Velez.
Julia asks Ace to let her go, but he forbids her to see Trisha or attend parties with her friends. He’s physically violent, and they fight often. Finally, she announces she’s leaving. On her way out, Ace attacks her, beats her with her suitcase handle, and drags her back into the apartment.
Detectives appear at the apartment a few weeks later. They tell Ace he has to give Julia over to her parents and come to the police station for questioning. They promise not to arrest him. Julia leaves and takes the bus to the police station to turn herself in. Tom brings her home, but no one cares that she’s back. Feeling rejected, she returns to Ace’s mom’s apartment for the night. In the morning, they go to the courthouse together. Ace is found guilty and sent back to Rikers Island.
Julia hides in her room for days, awaiting a call from Ace. He tells her what he needs, and she takes the bus to Rikers. They argue during their visit, making a scene. Julia continues taking his calls throughout the following weeks. However, when he grows increasingly angry, she distances herself. He finds ways to call her anyway and starts communicating privately with Tom. Then he starts mailing death threats to her home. Finally, Julia takes a call from him and tells him he must let her go or she will die by suicide. She’s home alone at the time because her parents are in Italy helping Grandpa. She cuts her wrists and hangs up on Ace. The police show up, having received a report that someone attempted suicide. They see Julia’s wrists and take her to New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Julia hates the hospital but is glad Ace can’t find her. Then one day, Ace calls another patient’s phone. Julia yells at him, but he keeps calling her.
Julia contacts Danny and plans to meet her when she leaves the hospital. On the day of her release, Tom talks to the doctors and tells Julia she must stay longer. That night, Ace calls, furious that she’s going to a party. The doctors put Julia on a medication that’s too strong for her. She begs Tom to bring her home, but he refuses. She calls Danny and discovers that she’s been communicating with Ace. She tells herself she won’t be afraid of him anymore.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Aftershock”
Julia gets out of the hospital and returns to school. She changes her number so Ace can’t contact her. He gets her new number, but she ignores his calls. Meanwhile, she smokes marijuana and uses prescription drugs. In school, she can’t pay attention. She reconnects with Veronica online, who’s dropped out of school and moved in with Mom to help with the baby. She tells Julia she’s coming to visit soon. Meanwhile, Julia befriends a girl named Liana who had a threesome with Ace. Julia and Liana spend their time partying and making new friends. One night, Julia’s mom calls to tell her Grandpa has died. Julia goes to a club and uses substances to distract herself from the news. Liana introduces her to Ace’s former associate, Rick. They use drugs together, and she has sex with him for revenge on Ace.
Julia and Liana continue partying together. They use new drugs and have sex with various guys they meet. One night, Julia panics when she runs out of cocaine and can’t find Rick to get more. She goes to his house, barges in, and they use drugs in his room. She feels herself sinking and sees images and a bright light. She feels at peace but wakes up in an ambulance. She passes out again and wakes up in the hospital with Tom standing over her.
Julia tells Liana she almost died and saw God, but Liana isn’t impressed. Julia “stop[s] doing hard drugs” for the next few months but continues to smoke marijuana (145). Meanwhile, everyone starts talking about college, and Julia begins dreaming about a future in fashion.
Veronica comes to visit. Julia quickly grows annoyed with her, but Veronica won’t leave. Julia discovers that she and Tom are spending time alone together. Julia tells her mom, who’s still in Italy, but Veronica insists she’s Tom’s guest. Julia tells Tom to choose her or Veronica, and Tom pays Julia $400 to leave so he can be with Veronica. Julia moves in with Liana and her mom, Dina. One day, Chris calls to say that Veronica left and begs Julia to come home, but she doesn’t want to return. She decides to find Veronica and discovers her asleep on Tom’s sailboat. She steals Veronica’s money and clothes and leaves. Then one day, Tom calls to say that Margaret died and demands that Julia attend the funeral. She refuses. She and Liana go out partying instead. While out, they get in trouble with the police for stealing a woman’s purse and using fake IDs. They spend the night in jail. On Sunday, the judge reads Julia’s charges, but she feels nothing. When she and Liana return to the courtroom for their next appearance, the judge says the only way Julia can avoid serving time is to follow the conditions of her probation. She must get sober, graduate high school, and get a job. Julia and Liana smoke marijuana together one last time before their probation starts.
Julia discovers that she can continue using other drugs besides marijuana without violating her probation. At a house party one night, she tries heroin for the first time. The dealer, Romeo, gives her several small bags of the drug. She tells herself she’ll stop using it after she runs out. However, Romeo contacts her not long after, and Julia buys more. When Liana discovers she’s using heroin, she forces her to flush it down the toilet.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
Chapters 4 and 5 depict Julia’s tumultuous high school years and foray into substance use and addiction. These facets of her adolescent and young adult experience establish the memoir’s explorations of addiction and abuse, resilience, and recovery. Julia’s substance use begins as a form of escape and freedom from her challenging familial and social dynamics, in the same way that her shoplifting habit first began as a form of survival and resourcefulness when Tom did not provide her with the basic household necessities or food she needed. Her involvement with Ace and his friends ushers her into this new world of experience and, in turn, grants Julia the illusion of Self-Discovery and Empowerment. With Ace, Julia feels excited, exhilarated, and energized. Ace not only offers her new substances to try but also insists that he loves her and will do anything for her. Julia latches onto Ace despite his controlling nature because she’s felt devalued, overlooked, and abandoned by everyone else. He symbolizes protection and love because she hasn’t had any other healthy relationships in her adolescence. However, Julia’s experiences with Ace rapidly devolve as she increasingly uses drugs. The longer she is with Ace, the more unhealthy, violent, and physically and emotionally abusive he becomes toward her. The longer she is using drugs, the more out of control she becomes and the more often she endangers her own life. These facets of Julia’s experience complicate her ability to understand herself and to claim her identity and autonomy. Her relationship with Ace limits her freedoms and strips her of personhood. Her substance use and addiction estrange her from reality and distance her from her friends and family.
Julia and Ace’s dysfunctional relationship complicates Julia’s perception of love and connection. She leaves Italy without telling anyone she is returning to New York City to be with Ace. She sees this impulsive decision as the ultimate act of love and proof of her devotion to him. However, within hours of her return, Ace physically attacks her and emotionally abuses her when she takes an innocuous visit to the bodega with her friend. Ace’s outsized reaction in this scene foreshadows the devolution of his and Julia’s relationship and reveals Ace’s true character. Julia begins to understand how dangerous Ace is and considers using her return ticket to Italy to escape the abusive relationship. The ticket is symbolic of freedom and escape for her. Therefore, when Ace tears up the ticket in Chapter 4, he destroys what Julia sees as her only chance at self-liberation. “Nothing is okay,” she thinks after watching him rip up the ticket, “and now there’s no way out” (107). This line encompasses the entirety of Julia’s protracted dynamic with Ace. She feels trapped, stifled, and alone in their relationship. However, whenever she tries to leave Ace, Ace becomes increasingly violent and abusive and entraps her once more. At other times, Julia is more attentive and submissive to Ace, because she “feel[s] so insecure” and alone and “need[s] him to validate [her]” (106). Ace’s validation only lasts for short intervals of time before he returns to his volatile behaviors. Indeed, even after Ace becomes incarcerated and Julia is hospitalized, Ace maintains psychological and emotional control over Julia. These facets of their dynamic prove dangerous and entrapping—distorting how Julia sees herself, her relationships, and her future.
Julia’s growing reliance on substance use similarly disfigures her perception of herself. In the latter days of high school, Julia and her friends “all [start] to look at colleges” (146). Julia starts thinking beyond the present for the first time in her life. She “dream[s] about fashion” and spends her days musing on the life she might create for herself in this world (146). However, the continued tumult in her home and social spheres quickly overshadow Julia’s dreams, underscoring the Impact of Personal and Social Challenges. The unrest with Tom, Veronica, and Chris particularly drives Julia further into partying and addiction. These pastimes let her escape feelings of emotional turmoil. However, they also preclude her from planning for the future or caring for herself in the present. Even her arrest, time spent overnight in jail, and resulting probation can’t amend her behavior, as her substance use and addiction cloud her mind and decision-making. These experiences thus heighten Julia’s personal and social challenges and disrupt her journey toward true Self-Discovery and Empowerment.
