Summer

CHAPTERS 1-6

Reading Check

1. “[L]anguid household drudgery” (Chapter 1)

2. The Mountain (Chapter 2)

3. “Professional dignity and masculine independence” (Chapter 3)

4. Because Lucius draws the houses (Chapter 5)

5. “[A] man’s companionship” (Chapter 6)

6. “[A] half-roofless shed” (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. Charity and Lucius first interact in the library, where Charity works as a librarian. Through a conversation filled with light teasing, Charity learns that he is an architect who is visiting his cousin Miss Hatchard from out of town. (Chapter 1)

2. After her first encounter with Lucius, Charity reflects on her feelings toward her caretaker Lawyer Royall, whom she chose to remain with after his wife died. After an attempt to engage in sexual intercourse with Charity, Lawyer Royall asks her to marry him, to which she promptly laughs. She insists he find her work at the library so that she is out of the house. By contrast, Lucius “had made her feel for the first time what might be the sweetness of dependence.” (Chapter 2)

3. Lawyer Royall remarks that Miss Hatchard made a complaint that Charity was not fulfilling her duties at the library. She learns that it was Lucius Harney who made this complaint, and Charity feels that he has betrayed her. (Chapter 3)

4. After returning to the library to give up her employment, Charity meets Lucius again and berates him for jeopardizing her work. Lucius insists there was a misunderstanding, as his remarks were simply suggestions on improving the conditions of the library as opposed to having Charity fired from her work. He asks her for some time to clear up the disagreement, to which she accepts. As the chapters after indicate, this is the start of a relationship. (Chapter 4)

5. Lucius is curious about the people who live on the Mountain and suggests that he and Charity visit there. Although Charity was born there, she has never really considered visiting the families. She is honest with Lucius and admits she was born there, to which he says, “I suppose that’s why you’re so different.” (Chapter 5)

6. Charity overhears Lawyer Royall speaking disparagingly to Lucius about the people who live on the Mountain. Charity learns that her father was a convict who asked Lawyer Royall to go up to the Mountain and retrieve his daughter, while her mother “was glad enough to have her go. She’d have given her to anybody.” (Chapter 6)

CHAPTERS 7-12

Reading Check

1. That Charity was seen entering and exiting Miss Hatchard’s property late at night (Chapter 8)

2. At the Creston pool (Chapter 8)

3. Because it reminds her of her trip with Julia to the “doctor” (i.e., abortion clinic) (Chapter 9)

4. A blue jewelry pin (Chapter 9)

5. Lucius buys them tickets to an “electric run-about” with $10; however, Charity observes he could have bought her an engagement ring with that same amount of money. (Chapter 10)

6. “Flight” (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. After Lucius does not attend his meals at the Royall house, Charity’s curiosity gets the better of her. She refuses to give Lawyer Royall the satisfaction of asking about Lucius’s whereabouts, so she walks into town to find him. She sees him through the window of Miss Hatchard’s house in the midst of packing; however, “she saw that the decision, from whatever cause it was taken, had disturbed him deeply; and she immediately concluded that his change of plan was due to some surreptitious interference of Mr. Royall’s.” (Chapter 7)

2. Lawyer Royall asks to speak with Charity, who immediately guesses correctly that it is about Lucius’s absence. Lawyer Royall explains that he had asked the boy to leave, as the whole town was gossiping about Charity’s coming and going from the Hatchard property. He once again asks her to marry him and offers to force Lucius to marry her, both of which she refuses. (Chapter 8)

3. Lucius accompanies Charity to the Fourth of July celebration in Nettleton, where Charity is in awe of the hustle and bustle of the town. Compared to Charity, Lucius is at ease with the pace of the Nettleton life, buying her a pin, taking her to a French restaurant, speaking in French with the waitress, and attending the “picture show.” (Chapter 9)

4. At the end of the fireworks show, Charity sees an inebriated Lawyer Royall in the company of the disgraced Julia Hawes. When Lawyer Royall sees Charity with Lucius, he calls her a “whore.” Ignoring Charity’s demands to return home, he gets on the boat with his group. (Chapter 10)

5. The day after the Fourth of July celebrations, Charity decides to flee into the Mountain; she wishes to escape the humiliation of the day before as well as Lucius. On her ascent, she runs into Lucius, who insists on accompanying her to an old abandoned house so they can speak. She eventually confides in Lucius that Lawyer Royall had made sexual advances at her before, and soon after they share another kiss. (Chapter 11)

6. The narrative skips to the end of August as North Dormer prepares for its Home Week festivities. Charity has spent the past weeks secretly meeting with Lucius in the abandoned house to engage in a love affair. She has not conversed with Lawyer Royall since the Fourth of July event. (Chapter 12)

CHAPTERS 13-18

Reading Check

1. Annabel Balch (Chapter 13)

2. “[I]t seemed to raise an insurmountable barrier between them.” (Chapter 15)

3. The brooch from Lucius (Chapter 15)

4. That her mother is dying (Chapter 16)

5. The conditions of how she would be able to raise her child (Chapter 17)

6. “A few days of autumn cold had wiped out all trace of the rich fields and languid groves” (Chapter 18)

Short Answer

1. At the celebration, Lawyer Royall gives a speech on the importance of not remaining defeated if a man comes back to North Dormer after failing at prospects out of town, and instead, building up North Dormer to “make the best of it.” Amongst the awe and praise of the crowd, Charity overhears Mr. Miles remarking that Lawyer Royall sounded like “a man.” (Chapter 13)

2. Finding Charity and Lucius’s secret hideaway, Lawyer Royall questions Lucius as to why he has not married Charity yet. Lawyer Royall leaves after alluding to Charity’s parents’ past, as well as his own advances toward her, and then Lucius promises to marry her after he returns to North Dormer. (Chapter 14)

3. Feeling faint and nauseous, Charity decides to visit Dr. Merkle at the abortion clinic in Nettleton. The woman confirms her pregnancy, advises her not to worry, and tells her to come back in a month’s time to do the procedure. (Chapter 15)

4. Upon hearing from Ally that Lucius and Annabel were engaged to be married, Charity writes to Lucius that he should marry Annabel as promised. Eventually, Charity receives a letter back thanking her for understanding the situation. She initially intends on responding to Lucius, but after a brief encounter with Lawyer Royall, she surveys her options for the future. She decides the best thing for her and her child is to go to the Mountain. (Chapter 15)

5. Charity and Mr. Miles visit the house where Charity’s mother, Mary, is found dead. They learn from talking to the other people in the house that Mary did not own any proper belongings, and they do not have the means to get a coffin for her burial. Charity is disturbed by the conditions of the house as well as the corpse; however, she insists on staying the night on the Mountain, with Liff’s mother. (Chapter 16)

6. After dinner, Charity goes directly to bed. When she wakes up hours later, she finds Lawyer Royall sitting in the chair and realizes that he knew she was pregnant. The next morning, he gives her money to buy clothes; she uses it to retrieve the brooch from Dr. Meckle, as well as to write to Lucius that she had married the lawyer. (Chapter 18)