# IX explained — The Last Man > Chapter companion for The Last Man by Mary Shelley. ## What happens The chapter describes the devastating impact of the plague on London and its inhabitants. Idris, overwhelmed by fear and grief, confesses her anguish to Adrian. Lionel visits the astronomer Merrival, who has lost his entire family to the plague and gone mad with grief. Adrian intervenes to prevent a massacre between warring factions, urging brotherhood and peace. The chapter ends with Adrian and Idris reuniting after a year, with Idris visibly consumed by dread and sorrow. ## Themes in this chapter ### Grief and Memory Idris's overwhelming grief for her loved ones and Merrival's madness from losing his family highlight the theme of grief and its consuming power. ### Isolation and Solitude London is depicted as a silent, lonely city, and Merrival stands alone among the dead, emphasizing isolation in the face of widespread death. ### Fate and Free Will Adrian's efforts to impose order and peace contrast with the inexorable advance of the plague, raising questions about human agency against fate. ## Character check-ins ### Idris Idris is consumed by fear and grief over the plague, describing her ceaseless anxiety as a vulture feeding on her heart. She hides her wretchedness but breaks down when reunited with Adrian. ### Adrian Adrian returns from a year of laborious and painful tasks, now energetic and resolute. He prevents a massacre by urging peace and brotherhood, and reunites with Idris, observing her deteriorated state. ### Lionel Verney Lionel visits Merrival's deserted home and finds the astronomer mad with grief after losing his family. He attempts to bring Merrival back to Windsor. ### Merrival Merrival, once a visionary astronomer, has lost his entire family to the plague and is now grief-stricken and mad, cursing the heavens. ## Key lines > We are but mourners in the funeral train, and what immortal essence or perishable creation will refuse to make one in the sad procession that attends to its grave the dead comforter of humanity? All of humanity is like mourners at the funeral of hope, which has died. _This passage reflects the theme of grief and the loss of hope as the plague devastates society._ > She described in vivid terms the ceaseless care that with still renewing hunger ate into her soul; she compared this gnawing of sleepless expectation of evil, to the vulture that fed on the heart of Prometheus. Idris described her constant anxiety as a vulture endlessly devouring her heart, like the myth of Prometheus. _This highlights Idris's psychological torment and the theme of grief and memory._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se/chapters/volume-ii-ix - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_last_man_se/chapters