“Imaginary Friend” by Stephen Chbosky (post 6): Novel ends with virgin pregnancy

The novel ends with a cliff-hanger (suggesting a sequel). Mary Katherine is a young woman who is pregnant (verified by multiple pregnancy tests), but claims never to have had sexual intercourse (her sincerity about this, even in her own private thoughts, is described at great length). And the last lines of the novel are as follows:

“Mary Katherine…,” the sweet voice said. “You are having a Son” (1, pp. 705-706).

Yes, the last word of the novel, “Son,” spoken by a mysterious voice in her head, is capitalized (implying an analogy to Jesus).

I think it more likely that Mary Katherine has amnesia, a memory gap, for impregnation, because sexual intercourse was engaged in by an alternate personality (with whom her regular personality is not co-conscious).

In conclusion, in spite of the novel’s pervasive symptoms of multiple personality—voices, namelessness, puzzling inconsistency in characters’ behavior, dissociative fugue and memory gap—there is no indication that the author intended to depict multiple personality, per se. So the symptoms may reflect aspects of the author’s own psychology.

1. Stephen Chbosky. Imaginary Friend. New York, Grand Central Publishing, 2019.