Summer of the Monkeys — Chapter 17

About This Passage

Rawls chooses this sentence to let the reader SEE the crippled leg at the exact moment Jay Berry sees it — a close-up written in short, falling clauses ('knelt down,' 'dropped clear down,' 'didn't want to believe') that make the heart fall alongside the eye. The verbs 'limping,' 'swarming,' and 'fetlock' root the moment in animal reality, while 'raw, red wound' plants the visual that will return — invisible at first — on the walk home, when Jay Berry glances down at the pony's leg and suddenly SEES his sister Daisy. The passage is the seed of the whole chapter's reversal.

Narration Prompt

Tell the story of Chapter 17 in five parts: (1) Jay Berry runs to Grandpa's store clutching his money, and Grandpa tells him there are two ponies in the barn lot — a healthy roan and a crippled paint. (2) Jay Berry struggles between the two ponies; the paint keeps pushing him with her head and Rowdy sits down in front of her like a vote. (3) Grandpa keeps saying odd things about how 'a lot of cripples could be helped if someone would just take the time.' (4) On the walk home, Jay Berry hears Daisy singing from her playhouse, glances at his pony's leg, and the connection hits him 'like a bolt of lightning.' (5) He turns back, gives up the pony, hands Mama the money, Grandma adds her saved sack, and Papa shakes his son's hand for the first time.

Discussion Questions

1. When Grandpa says, 'O ye of little faith,' and calls himself 'not very proud of myself,' what does this tell us about what Grandpa had been afraid of the whole summer — and what it means to him that Jay Berry finally figured it out?
2. Rawls gives Jay Berry TWO moments of recognition in this chapter — the first moment at the barn lot when the little mare pushes him with her head, and the second moment on the road when he hears Daisy singing. What does it mean that Jay Berry's heart changed TWICE — once for the pony, once for his sister?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide