Study Guide

We Need to Talk About Kevin Chapter 10: December 21, 2000

By Lionel Shriver

Chapter 10: December 21, 2000

A documentary filmmaker named Jack Marlin contacts Eva to get her side of the story.
After avoiding most of his questions, she snaps. "I saw it coming for nearly sixteen years. […] A fat lot of good that did" (10.12).
Back in the past, Eva and Franklin hire a nanny to help with Kevin.
The nanny quits almost instantly, so they hire another: Siobhan.
Siobhan is "a saint" (10.26) for being able to tolerate Kevin the demon child.
It's not because Kevin behaves around Siobhan. He's as terrible to her as he is to Eva, throwing things and pulling her hair. But Siobhan is able to put up with it.
One day, Siobhan decides she has had enough, so she takes her last paycheck and hightails it out of there.
Eva decides to have a little talk with Kevin, even though he's still a baby.
"You're a little s***" (10.105), she tells baby Kevin, for running Siobhan off.
Of course, Franklin walks in and hears Eva talking to the baby this way. He's not pleased.
Franklin decides to tell Eva that they'll be moving out of New York City.
Eva doesn't want to move, but Franklin tells her she's had enough time in New York to do whatever she wants. It's time to move to a smaller town to raise Kevin.
"There are two of us," he says, "and one of you" (10.136). Dang, that's cold.

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