Chapter 11, All Hail and Hallelujah Summary

Chapter 11 introduces Gloria more thoroughly, as she was mentioned in chapter 2, and chapter 11 is told through her perspective. She starts the chapter by talking about her childhood in southern Missouri. She thinks about the good times with her family- her mother, father and five brothers- and how her mother and father had a love strong and pure. She shares that she has lost two marriages and three sons.

Gloria remembers the afternoon in Claire's apartment when she and the other mothers who have lost sons in the Vietnam War gathered to meet. She remembers how the other ladies acted rudely by blatantly showing their boredom and interrupting Claire when she was talking about her son. Gloria remembers how Claire asked her to stay behind after the other ladies left. Gloria lied to Claire about having...