Summary
Chapter 18: June
June follows Day when he visits his family. When she sees the strange red "X" on their door, that’s all she needs to confirm Day’s identity. She calls Thomas and tells him the news. He agrees to send troops to bring Day’s family to Central Hospital. June expects that Day will try to save them, and begins plotting ways to capture him. However, she feels conflicted because she actually likes Day very much. She wonders whether he really killed Metias.
Chapter 19: Day
That night, Day dreams of introducing June to his family. It’s supposed to be a happy moment, but June solemnly tells him that Eden has died. Day wakes suddenly when he hears the sirens of military ambulances. June admits that she followed Day and that the police are on their way to take his family.
Chapter 20: June
Day asks June how she knows this. He trusts her completely when she tells him she followed him out of curiosity and overheard some soldiers discussing their plans for the following day. Day takes off to rescue his family. June orders Tess to stay behind and follows him. Then she calls Thomas and updates him on her plans, emphasizing that she doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. Although she feels guilty about tricking a seemingly kind person like Day, she can’t forget that she has “a score to settle” (148).
Chapter 21: Day
As Day sneaks into his house, he tries to think of a way to get his family safely away from the plague police. He reveals himself to his mother and Eden, who thought he was dead. We learn that Day’s real name is Daniel when his mother joyfully greets him. Day, John, Mom, and Eden all hide in the crawlspace under the back porch as the police force their way into the house.
Day realizes that his family is in danger if the police find out they are related to Day. He climbs out of the crawlspace, hoping to fight off the police. Since the plague police usually operate in groups of two or three, he thinks he has a chance. He climbs on the roof to get a good view, and is horrified to see 20 soldiers, including June, Commander Jameson, and Thomas. Day suddenly realizes that June has the same eyes as Metias - and that she works for the military. He’s enraged that he fell for her.
The soldiers quickly find his family under the porch. Day has three bullets in his pocket that he took from the hospital raid, and he uses his slingshot to wound a soldier. This gives away his location. June urges him to surrender and save his family, but Day uses his second bullet to shoot her bodyguard in the knee. Thomas shoots Day’s mother in the head.
Chapter 22: June
Day charges the soldiers in a blind fury. Commander Jameson shoots him in the thigh and the soldiers take him prisoner. June is shocked and horrified that Thomas and Commander Jameson killed a civilian so easily, but Jameson insists that this was the fastest way to get Day into custody. Thomas is unfazed by the violence and cheerfully congratulates June on a job well done.
Analysis
This section reveals that Day's real name is Daniel, which means "God is my judge" in Hebrew. The name ties into several aspects of Day's character. Although Day is not religious, he is loyal to his own sense of morality rather than the law, and he doesn't fear being judged by the Republic authorities. In the Bible, Daniel was a Jewish prophet who overcame the oppression of his people by interpreting the Babylonian king's dreams. Given the prominence of dreams in this novel, it makes sense that Lu would choose this name for her main character.
This chapter introduces a few moral dilemmas that readers can debate. One of the most dramatic of these is whether Day was right not to surrender to the police. On the one hand, Day’s mother might have survived if he had given himself up peacefully. However, it’s also possible that the government would have killed her anyway. Additionally, it’s worth noting that Day had no way of knowing Thomas would kill his mother. Readers could also argue that Day had to fight to save his family, even if he knew it was a losing battle.
Another good question about the showdown in Chapter 21 is why Day made the choice he did. He certainly wants to rescue his family, and it’s fair to note that things happened so fast that he didn’t have time to think over his decisions. That said, he’s also motivated by his anger and humiliation from being tricked by June. These emotions may have compelled Day to throw himself into a fight that, in other circumstances, he would have recognized that he couldn’t win.
Throughout Legend, Lu has established revenge as a theme. June is primarily motivated by her desire to avenge Metias’s death. Although Day seems like a more noble-minded person, he is also driven by revenge. His criminal career started when he burned down a police station to get revenge for his father being tortured. Likewise, his actions in this chapter are driven by a passionate desire for revenge instead of his usual cool logic.
Lu demonstrates that revenge can be a powerful driver. However, the events of Part I ultimately show that June’s obsession with revenge is a destructive force. Her focus on avenging Metias prevents her from realizing that Day is actually a good person until it’s too late. As later chapters will show, it also distracts her and prevents her from noticing that Thomas and Commander Jameson are acting strangely. Although she is a genius and has the ability to recognize the problems with the Republic, her obsession makes her vulnerable and opens her up to manipulation by her commanding officers.
