# V explained — After the Divorce

> Chapter companion for After the Divorce by Grazia Deledda.

## What happens

Two weeks after Costantino's condemnation, the community gathers for Mass while Giovanna remains in a state of deep lethargy and despair, haunted by her final prison visit. Aunt Bachissia delivers Costantino's message to Isidoro Pane and later learns from Giacobbe Dejas that Brontu has publicly declared he would marry Giovanna if she obtained a divorce, sparking Aunt Bachissia's fury and suspicion.

## Themes in this chapter

### Suffering and Resilience

Giovanna's profound psychological collapse and Aunt Bachissia's pragmatic struggle to keep the household running highlight the weight of suffering and the fragile attempts at resilience.

### Social Class and Community

The church scene and Giacobbe's gossip reveal the tight-knit yet judgmental community dynamics, where social standing and public declarations shape personal destinies.

### Love and Betrayal

Brontu's opportunistic marriage proposal so soon after Costantino's condemnation underscores themes of betrayal and shifting loyalties.

## Character check-ins

### Giovanna Era

Falls into a lethargic stupor after Costantino's condemnation, refusing to eat, pray, or care for her child; obsessively recounts the prison visit.

### Aunt Bachissia

Cares for Giovanna's child, delivers Costantino's message to Isidoro, and reacts angrily to Giacobbe's news about Brontu's marriage proposal.

### Costantino Ledda

Removed to Cagliari prison, sends a letter urging Giovanna to raise their child in fear of God and asking to be remembered to Isidoro.

### Isidoro Pane

Sings the sacred lauds at Mass and receives Costantino's message from Aunt Bachissia; agrees to ask Priest Elias to visit Giovanna.

### Giacobbe Dejas

Meets Aunt Bachissia after Mass and reveals Brontu's drunken declaration that he would marry Giovanna if she divorced.

### Brontu Dejas

Attends Mass in new clothes; Giacobbe reports that Brontu publicly offered to marry Giovanna if she gets a divorce.

## Key lines

> He was there, and he was laughing. He was livid, and yet he laughed, standing there behind the bars. Malthineddu seized hold of the bars, and he touched his little hands and then he laughed! My heart! my heart! don't laugh like that; it hurts me, because I know that that is how dead people laugh!

Giovanna obsessively recalls Costantino's eerie laughter during their final prison visit, interpreting it as a deathly omen that torments her.

_Illustrates Giovanna's monomaniacal grief and her sense of foreboding about Costantino's fate._

> Tell Giovanna Era that if she gets a divorce I'll marry her!

Brontu publicly declares his intention to marry Giovanna if she divorces Costantino.

_Reveals Brontu's opportunistic interest and sets up a major plot development._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_the_divorce_se/chapters/part-i-v
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_the_divorce_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/after_the_divorce_se/chapters