No Promises In The Wind

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1970

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-11

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary

Hunger causes Josh and Joey to become solely focused on finding food. They occasionally get a bowl of broth at a soup kitchen but are allowed only one meal. Josh resorts to searching garbage cans, competing with rats and other desperate people for discarded food. Joey goes begging door to door.

At a small farmhouse in Nebraska, an elderly woman invites them inside. She tells them to take a bath and provides them with a comfortable bed for the night. In the morning, she feeds them a good breakfast and suggests that the boys “write something to Mama” (52) to let her know they’re okay. Josh politely declines to write home to his parents because he has nothing to say to them, but he suggests that Joey could write. Joey writes a letter saying that he and Josh are in Nebraska doing fine and doesn’t mention the hardships they’ve experienced.

They reluctantly leave the house in the early afternoon. Josh laments, “We wished we could stay with her, but we knew the rules: one night, one meal. Two meals at most” (53).

While hitchhiking, the boys accept a ride from a truck driver named Lonnie, who’s headed to New Orleans. Lonnie is friendly—and interested in the boys’ welfare. He tells them he had a son named Davy around Josh’s age but he died. Lonnie encourages Josh to forgive his father because he once made a mistake as a father himself. He didn’t take his son’s bellyache seriously enough at first, and Davy died of appendicitis because Lonnie didn’t call the doctor right away.

Lonnie and the boys stop at a restaurant. Lonnie knows the waitress, Bessie, and asks her if the restaurant still has a piano. Bessie takes them into the dining room where the piano is. Josh plays for a small group of the restaurant’s patrons, who are obviously impressed by his musical abilities.

Bessie tells them about her cousin, Pete Harris, who runs a carnival in Baton Rouge. She says Harris sometimes hires piano players for the show. She thinks he might have a job for Josh. Lonnie thinks it’s a good idea and agrees to alter his route to stop in Baton Rouge at the carnival site.

Chapter 5 Summary

During the ride to Baton Rouge, Lonnie assumes the role of a father figure for the boys: “All at once, Joey at ten and I at fifteen, had the right to be boys again. It was Lonnie who made the correct turns on the road; it was Lonnie who was taking the responsibility of finding Pete Harris and the carnival for us […]” (64). Josh offers to repay Lonnie the money he’s spending on the boys once he gets a job, but Lonnie tells him not to worry about the cost of breakfast and to take care of Joey before trying to pay him back.

They arrive at the carnival grounds and meet Pete Harris. He’s reluctant to hire Josh because the hard times have put the carnival’s future in doubt:

To tell you the truth, I just don’t know how long this show is goin’ to hang together. Times ain’t good for havin’ fun. People ain’t lettin’ go of their money anymore; awful lot of people ain’t got any money to let go of (68).

However, after he hears Josh plays, he offers Josh a job that pays $5 a week plus sleeping space and food for him and Joey. Harris thinks Josh’s piano playing will be a good attraction if he can learn to “ballyhoo.”

The boys’ sleeping area is next to two men with dwarfism named Blegan and Edward C. Kensington. At breakfast the next day, the two of them point out some other members of the show, including a man with flippers instead of arms, a sword swallower, and an obese lady named Madam Olympia.

Josh and Joey then meet the show’s star performer—a clown named Emily. Because at the time carnival attendees expected clowns to be only men, Emily dresses as a man, and only the people in the show know she’s a woman. Josh thinks Emily is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

Chapter 6 Summary

Emily’s clown act with the “dwarfs” is a big hit with the carnival attendees. Josh grows close to her. She eats breakfast at his table and drops by his piano to chat at night when the show is over. She tells Josh that he has a gift. Josh tells Emily, “I wish you were a girl, Emily. I’d give anything in the world if you were a girl my age” (87).

Josh sends three dollars of his pay to Lonnie with a letter. He and Joey buy Christmas presents for each other.

Emily invites Josh and Joey to her boxcar home on Christmas Eve. Josh considers buying Emily a bottle of perfume for Christmas. However, Edward C. says Emily would appreciate a practical gift of money to help feed her boys. Josh agrees to the idea. They find a decorative box, and each of them contribute 10 dimes to it.

At the Christmas Eve gathering, Emily is happy to receive the box of dimes from Josh, Joey, and Edward C. However, Josh feels jealous and sad when Pete Harris gives Emily earrings for Christmas, and he realizes that Pete and Emily are in a romantic relationship.

Josh discovers that Emily plans to marry Pete Harris. He confronts her about the plan, saying that Pete is “an old man” (95)—too old for her. Emily explains that even though Pete is 15 years older than she is, he’s “a good man” (95) who cares about the welfare of others. She also points out that she’s 15 years older than Josh. A disappointed Josh says, “Just forget you ever knew me. We’ll be strangers from now on” (96).

An oil heater in one of the tents starts a fire, and the wind causes it to spread rapidly, destroying most of the carnival’s tents and rides. As Josh watches Pete comforting Emily, he realizes that they’re right for each other and accepts the fact that Emily could never be the 15-year-old girl he fantasized about.

Chapters 4-6 Analysis

Lonnie, the truck driver, plays a pivotal role in these chapters. Lonnie becomes a father figure to the boys, and the relationship will play a key part in Josh’s coming of age. Lonnie urges Josh to forgive his father, which Josh is not ready to do yet. However, Lonnie’s story about the mistake he made as a father and how deeply he regrets it will resonate with Josh later. The alternative adult perspective on Josh and Joey’s family life benefits their maturing process.

At the carnival, Josh gains confidence from his piano gig, but he also learns a tough lesson about love when he develops a crush on an older woman. At one point, Josh tells Emily that he wishes she were a girl his age. He’s jealous when he learns that Emily is engaged to his boss, Pete Harris. However, he eventually realizes that he’s just damaging his friendship with someone who cares about him by engaging in fantasies about her. During the trauma of the fire, when he sees Pete comforting Emily, he finally accepts that the two of them belong together, and he then repairs his friendship with Emily.

In Chapter 6, the wind—a symbol in much literature about the Depression era that represents the natural world’s callous indifference toward the Depression’s refugees—makes its menacing presence known. The carnival fire starts in one tent, but the wind quickly spreads it until the flames engulfs the whole venue. Josh reflects on his disdain for the wind just before the fire, foreshadowing the calamity that it brings:

The wind made a little sighing sound in the branches above me. I hated the wind. A bright morning, a moonlit night, a sunset sky—these might fill me with hope for happier times. Not the wind. It either lashed or cried or whispered little mysteries known only to itself. The wind never gave me hope; it never made any promises (98).

After the fire, Josh and Joey must move on; the wind blew away a promising job.