47 pages • 1 hour read
Jesse AndrewsMe and Earl and the Dying Girl
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Phone Sex”
Greg struggles to find an opening line for his phone call with Rachel. He moves through several hypothetical scenarios, all in which he makes a fool of himself and Rachel is none the cheerier. When Greg finally makes the phone call, he encounters Rachel’s mom, Denise Kushner, who finds him as funny as her daughter once did. Greg attains Rachel’s phone number and calls her directly. A short, clumsy conversation ensues, ending with Rachel declining Greg’s invitation to hang out. Even though Greg expected exactly this result, he is still bothered by the outcome, and blames his mother for interfering with the social life he wants so badly: one “without friends, enemies, or awkwardness” (47).
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Gaines Family: A Summary”
Greg briefly summarizes his dad, Dr. Victor Gaines, and his mom, Marla Gaines, along with his two sisters, Gretchen and Grace Gaines, their cat, Cat Stevens, and his paternal grandmother, Gamma-Gamma Gaines, who “lives in Boston and comes to visit occasionally” (51). Greg’s dad is a Carnegie Mellon University professor of ethics, who buys specialty meats and talks to the cat. Greg’s mom is a “very loving woman” who runs a Jewish nonprofit and has very clear boundaries as to what she believes is right and what is wrong and has no qualms about enforcing what is right onto others in the family, specifically Greg (49). Greg used to be good friends with his 14-year-old sister, Gretchen, but now that she is a teenager, he gives her a wide berth on account of her raging hormones and unpredictable temperament. His six-year-old sister, Grace, also discusses issues with Cat Stevens and “aspires to be a writer and a princess” (50).
Chapter 8 Summary: “Phone Sex II”
After Rachel turns him down twice more, Greg decides to give up asking her to hang out. Greg’s mom has other ideas. Relying on a technique wherein she simply does not stop talking about why it is important that Greg befriends Rachel, Greg’s mom convinces him to call Rachel one more time. When Rachel again declines Greg’s invitation to hang out, stating her confusion as to why he has interest in being around her after school when he ignores her during school, Greg panics, and tells a lie: he tells her the reason for his strange behavior is that Rachel broke his heart in Hebrew school. Rachel is doubtful, but Greg convinces her that he truly believed she was in love with Josh Metzger, and that broke his heart. Rachel’s retort makes Greg laugh – a first – and their conversation ends with Rachel inviting Greg to come over.
Chapter 9 Summary: “A More or Less Typical Conversation with Earl”
Greg describes his friend, Earl, and although Earl can be profane at times, Greg assures his readers that he was far worse in middle school. Earl often slips into “Gross-Out Mode” wherein he attempts to gross out anyone with whom he is speaking; this person’s only hope is to change the conversation completely (61). Despite also being a senior at Benson, Earl is extremely short and looks extremely young, contributing to his constant state of anger. Greg lists ten problems with Earl’s home life that include little income (other than that provided by drug deals and gang activity), lots of noise and foul smells emanating from the leaky garbage, stale vomit, and mounds of dog poop left on the floor of the house, along with a questionably-functioning housecomprsied of drippy ceilings and unreliable toilets, just to name a few. Even though Earl’s siblings provide an elite array of video games, Greg and Earl typically spend time at Greg’s house. Greg’s dad likes to take Earl with him to specialty meat shops to select the day’s delicacy, and Greg’s mom has stopped trying to convince Earl to quit smoking. In return, Earl eats strange meats with Greg’s dad and tones down his profanity when in the presence of Greg’s mom.
Chapter 6-Chapter 9 Analysis
These chapters offer insight into how Greg interacts with and observes the most significant people in his world: his family, Earl, and Rachel. By summarizing his family, Greg highlights the most meaningful aspects of them, which determine that Greg has led a relatively undisturbed life with his quirky, loving family intact.
By comparison, Earl’s home and family life paint a very different picture. Drugs, gang life, and alcoholism are the norm for Earl’s brothers and mother. He has no father present, and the house in which he lives is as uncared for as its inhabitants. One of Greg and Earl’s more typical conversations includes a competition of who can be grosser than the other. Even though Greg sees disturbing aspects of Earl’s life, their interactions remain boyish, further supporting Greg’s system of not getting too close to anyone.
Greg’s first attempt to hang out with Rachel fails, so he wants to give up, but his mom won’t let him. He tries several more times until he finally lies to Rachel about his feelings for her and she agrees to hang out with him. When Greg is under pressure, he often panics, and because of his limited experience in developing friendships, he relies on his ability to tell stories. So, he tells Rachel a story. Greg fully expects Rachel to decline his invitation when he first contacts her, and even though events unfold exactly as he predicts, he notes that he is bothered by the outcome, although he is unsure as to why. When Greg claims Rachel broke his heart because he thought she loved Josh Metzger, the tall, brooding fellow from their Hebrew school, Rachel retorts that maybe Greg was the one who had feelings for Josh, based on his description. This makes Greg laugh. It’s a first for him, and he’s intrigued. These small fissures in his armor set Greg up to shed it completely in the coming chapters.
