Survive the Night: A Novel

Part 8 is the falling action of the novel, in which Charlie, Josh, and Marge are taken to the hospital and treated for their injuries. Sager had left Josh’s and Marge’s fates ambiguous at the end of Part 6 and in Part 7, leaving the possibility that both had perished in the lodge fire. However, Part 8 confirms that Marge and Josh survived and were rescued by paramedics. The Epilogue is the resolution of the novel and gives Charlie and Jake good endings in which they live successful and satisfying lives. Charlie gets to work as a film archivist but no longer has to worry about films taking over her reality like they did after her parents’ deaths. Jake gets to work as a chauffeur and drives famous people around Hollywood. The hopeful and celebratory moods of Part 8 and the Epilogue starkly contrast the anxious and sad moods of the previous parts.

With Robbie’s body found, Charlie gives Marge his tooth, allowing Marge to finally let go of her rage and form a better relationship with Charlie. This resolution of Charlie and Marge’s conflict also acts as a resolution to The Devastation of Grief that plagued both of them for two months. Charlie also allows herself to process her grief over her parents’ deaths, taking Josh’s car and driving it without fear of causing an accident. She drives along the mountains and “drives like hell” (318), the way her father told her she would have to sometimes.

Part 8 also resolves The Blurred Lines Between Reality and Imagination. When Charlie goes to the lodge ruins to pick up Josh’s car, she decides that she cannot continue her hallucinations. The narrator explains,

Charlie knows that the movies in her mind need to stop. She can’t spend parts of her life in a dream state. She suspects that’s one of the reasons she had so spectacularly misjudged Robbie. He was too handsome, too smart, too perfect for real life. The flaws were there, but she had overlooked them in favor of preserving the movie-version boyfriend she wanted instead of looking for the real-life one she needed (318).

Charlie decides that she is going to follow Maddy’s advice and live her life in the real world. She wants to see things as they are and be an active person in her life rather than an audience member. She reveals in the Epilogue six years later that she has not had any more “movies in her mind” since “the night depicted in the real movie she just watched” (320). Though she still loves movies, she prefers to live in the real world now and even tells Jake that, though she enjoyed the movie about her experience, “real life is so much better” (322). The presentation of Charlie’s ability to switch off her hallucinations by choice is problematic; people with mental health conditions cannot simply choose to stop their delusions and hallucinations. The portrayal of Charlie’s hallucinations engages with stigmatizing tropes that suggest mental illness can be controlled by willpower as opposed to acknowledging the medical and clinical significance of mental health conditions.

Charlie also develops a friendship with Josh after thanking him for saving her, marking a conclusion to the theme of Trust Versus Paranoia as the two start off on a foundation of trust, now knowing quite a bit about each other. The Epilogue confirms that Charlie was attracted to Josh’s/Jake’s charm and that she started calling him Jake as they got closer. The narrator referring to Jake as Charlie’s “husband” in the final paragraph confirms that they started a relationship and fell in love following their movie dates.

In Part 8 and the Epilogue, Charlie completes her transformation from a self-loathing, fearful, and detached young woman to a hopeful, lively, and active one. She decides to let go of her guilt and confront her problems and emotions directly. This decision allows her to build a new, satisfying life with Jake and to experience, as terrifying as it is, changing her life for the better. She welcomes life’s experiences, even the parts that are “messy,” “complicated,” “sad,” “scary,” or “boring” (318). She becomes unafraid of the challenges that await her and lives with the vivacity that Maddy encouraged her to obtain.

The ruined lodge appears once again in Part 8, Chapter 3 as a backdrop where Charlie finds Josh’s car unscathed. The lodge in this section symbolizes Charlie and Marge’s past. Like the lodge, Charlie and Marge’s dwelling in the past is gone, and they have allowed themselves to make peace with it. Charlie leaves the lodge, and her past, with her mind fully on the physical and present world. She allows herself to enjoy things, such as the music in Josh’s car, and no longer feels smothered by guilt, grief, or rage.