Summary

Chapter 17 opens from Madison's perspective the following morning. Mr. B had entered the cellar the previous evening. He showed her the pink thread and then beat her to the point that she believed she would die. While she did not want to disobey Mr. B, the man she considered her creator, she “hungered for a life she could only imagine” (Location 3135). This morning, Mr. B arrived this morning and took off her clothes, including the faded yellow panties that she had worn all this time. She imagines the bucket filled with guts from the animals they butchered. She lay down inside the mom image on the cellar floor. She had carved the words “Madison … Please come save me” (Location 3153) but knows she is actually on her own. She digs up the spoon she had buried in the corner, and begins to pry at the...