The Return of the Native Book 6, Chapter 4 Summary

Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation

• It's the day of Thomasin and Diggory's wedding and all the locals are gathered for the occasion.
• The locals all cheer when they see Diggory and Thomasin and everyone heads off for the wedding feast.
• Clym opts to not attend since he's still too depressed.
• Clym walks to Captain Vye's house and spies Charley, who is also still depressed.
• Charley walks home with Clym, and Clym gives Charley a lock of Eustacia's hair to keep.
• The two watch the wedding reception party going on outside.
• Thomasin comes back in as the party winds down to tell Clym good-bye since she's heading off to Diggory's house now.
• We go forward in time – Clym does work as an itinerant preacher and spends the rest of his life mourning his mother and his wife.
• People always treat him kindly throughout his life since they feel so sorry for him.
• And that's our downer of an ending. Check out "What's Up with the Ending?" for some thoughts on the final chapters.