The Seventh Most Important Thing

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

The Seventh Most Important Thing begins in November of 1963 in Washington D.C. on a day where “everything felt metallic” (1). For reasons undisclosed at this time, Arthur Owens (age 13), who has never been a violent kid, throws a brick at Mr. James Hampton, who’s known as the “junk man” because he pushes a rusted shopping cart around the neighborhood to collect trash. Arthur aims for Mr. Hampton’s head but hits his shoulder.

A truck driver for a local newspaper finds the injured Mr. Hampton and takes him to the hospital. There, reporters interview Mr. Hampton, who says the brick incident was “an act of God” (2). Meanwhile, Arthur goes to juvenile prison (juvie), and spends three weeks there wondering why he threw the brick.

Chapter 2 Summary

Arthur goes to court for a sentencing hearing. Judge Philip Warner presides over the hearing. He doesn’t seem like “a listening sort of man” (3), which doesn’t give Arthur much hope.

Arthur isn’t a very big kid, and he’s wearing the ill-fitting suit he wore to his dad’s funeral. When the judge calls him to the bench, he hears surprised whispers from the audience. Arthur doesn’t look like a typical juvie kid. The biggest thing that sets him apart from the other kids is that he’s younger.

Chapter 3 Summary

Mr. Hampton is present at the hearing, and Arthur learns Mr. Hampton’s real name. To Arthur, the name feels too formal, like it “could have belonged to a school principal” (7).

The judge asks if Arthur threw the brick because Mr. Hampton is black. Arthur is taken aback. He never even considered this because Mr. Hampton “wasn’t a color” (10). To avoid the accusation of racism, Arthur confesses he threw the brick because of Mr. Hampton’s hat.

Chapter 4 Summary

The hat is a motorcycle cap that belonged to Arthur’s dad, who died three months ago. The day Arthur threw the brick, he’d come home from school to find his mother had gotten rid of everything that belonged to Arthur’s dad. Arthur ran outside to look for his dad’s things and saw Mr. Hampton wearing the cap. Arthur was furious because he knew Mr. Hampton went through their trash and picked the “best things of his father’s to take with him” (15).

Arthur wanted to punish Mr. Hampton, death, and the rest of the world for taking his dad away. He threw the brick in a moment of blind anger and hurt.

Chapters 1-4 Analysis

These chapters introduce the two main characters of the novel, Arthur Owens and Mr. James Hampton, the “junk man.” Arthur grieves over the recent death of his dad and doesn’t understand how to deal with his emotions. His dad’s death left a hole in his life, and over the course of the story, the seven important things help Arthur fill that hole to overcome his anger and hurt. The author has modeled Mr. Hampton after the real-life James Hampton (1909-1964), the creator of “Third Heaven of the Nation's Millennium General Assembly” (which the book’s Mr. Hampton works on). As a character, Mr. Hampton acts as a role model and stand-in father figure for Arthur. Mr. Hampton’s seven important things ultimately allow Arthur to heal from the pain of his dad’s death. The death of Arthur’s dad also foreshadows Mr. Hampton’s later death. The relationship between Arthur and Mr. Hampton shows how Arthur will later take charge of the sculpture.

The Seventh Most Important Thing takes place in 1963 amidst the United States civil rights movement. The only reference to racial conflict comes in Chapter 4, when Judge Warner asks Arthur if he attacked Mr. Hampton due to his skin color. Arthur never even considered the idea, which sets aside race for the rest of the story to focus on the emotional journeys of Arthur and Mr. Hampton.

These chapters also introduce one of the book’s major themes: “One Man’s trash is Another Man’s Treasure.” Mr. Hampton is initially known only as the “junk man,” so named for collecting trash. Unknown to Arthur or anyone else, Mr. Hampton collects trash to create a grand sculpture of heaven, Mr. Hampton’s “treasure.” The motorcycle cap also represents this theme; Arthur’s mother throws the cap away because it reminds her of Arthur’s dad, but Arthur wants to keep the cap for the same reason. To Arthur’s mother, the cap is trash, but it is treasure to Arthur.