65 pages • 2 hours read
Edith WhartonSummer
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1917A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Enraged at the idea that Lucius Harney has criticized her care of the library to its patron, Miss Hatchard, Charity blocks his attempted entry and advises him that the facility “[…] ain’t open to the public on Wednesdays” (23). Harney is confused when the young woman accuses him of having badmouthed her and surmises him to be in league with her detractors in North Dormer. He states that he merely advised Miss Hatchard that the building is in serious need of proper ventilation in order to prevent the books from mildewing and states, “‘You don’t really think that I’d do anything to hurt you?’” (25), noting Miss Hatchard’s tendency toward excitability.
Charity declares her intention to resign from her post rather than be fired; however, she advises that she wanted the job in order to save enough money to get away from the town. Harney persuades her to wait one more day before quitting in order to allow him time to determine whether the older woman actually intends to fire her. He notes, “‘You can trust me, you know—you really can’” (26). Charity agrees to wait before pursuing her plan.
Chapter 5 Summary
Charity revels in a perfect June day as she lies on a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley. Her rest is disturbed when Liff Hyatt, who “came from the Mountain,” smashes some nearby flowers with his boot (28). She advises Liff, whom she normally avoids, that her friend, Lucius Harney, wishes to visit an old brown house “[…] by the swamp, under Porcupine” (29) in order to make an architectural sketch of the building. He agrees to tell Bash Hyatt, a relative, that the pair will visit but warns that Bash is frequently drunk.
Following his departure, Charity ruminates about the circumstances of her birth on the Mountain and who her mother might have been; however, she usually refrains from exploring memories of her early life there. When she brings Harney to the area to sketch, she often gazes at him doing so from a distance. Charity is pleased to be seen chauffeuring him in Lawyer Royall’s horse and carriage, which the young man rents on a daily basis. Previously impervious to male attentions from the young villagers, Charity is now aware that Harney finds her attractive. Charity has some concern that Royall may become aware of exactly how much time she is spending with Harney and is afraid that he may make her “pay for it”(32).
She brings Harney to the brown house owned by members of the Hyatt family so that he can sketch it; he responds with interest, having heard that the residents of the areas are an independent kingdom of outlaws, who are “[…] quite outside the jurisdiction of the valleys” (33), without churches, schools, and law enforcement officials. Charity advises him that she was born in the area and adopted by the Royalls as a child. He responds by saying, “‘[…] that’s why you’re so different’” (34) and kissing her hand.
Chapter 6 Summary
Lucius Harney was staying at the home of his cousin, Miss Hatchard; however, she is away visiting relatives. He is paying Lawyer Royall $10 per week to eat meals in his home, often referred to as “the red house.” Charity realizes that Royall is pleased to have a person of Harney’s background and education as a conversation partner. Also, his law practice is a “vague legend” (35); his meager income is the result of his small farm and commissions from local insurance agencies. The profit is increased when Harney rents Royall’s horse and buggy for $1.50 per day. Charity drives him on a tour of old houses in the area.
She overhears the men discussing the Mountain, and Royall relates a story about having attained a manslaughter conviction against one of the residents some years earlier. Subsequently, the convict requested Royall bring a child he believed he fathered down from the colony to be raised in the town. The lawyer did so, adding that the child’s biological mother “[…] was glad enough to have her go” (37). This causes Charity to reflect that she is the daughter of “[…] a drunken convict and a mother who wasn’t ‘half human’” (37); while Lawyer Royall does not identify the child as Charity, she told Harney of her origins herself. She realizes that their disparate origins will create an emotional distance between them.
Charity prepares a picnic the following morning, to be eaten with Harney as they tour the Hyatt house near the Mountain. Mr. Royall is exasperated when he sees her leaving, obviously unhappy that the pair are spending so much time together. Charity and Harney enter the old house that interests the architect and see an unconscious, inebriated man; a clearly cowed wife; and an elderly woman occupying the dirty hovel. It is clear that the younger woman is afraid of disturbing the man, but she offers the visitors a sip of whiskey from a broken cup when she sees Charity shivering from the cold rain. Harney starts to offer the woman a dollar but then replaces the bill in his pocket, and Charity “[…] guessed that he did not wish her to see him offering money to people she had spoken of as being her kin” (44). Charity compares the relative luxury in which she has been raised with the ragged conditions of the house. She is filled with self-loathing and keeps thinking that “[t]his is where I belong” (44). As the pair travel home, she sobs, “‘They’re my people, and I ain’t ashamed of them’” (45), and Harney comforts her as she weeps.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
The narrative becomes more subtle with respect to exploration of character in this section. Charity, whose initial assessment of Lucius Harney is that he is an elitist who seeks to terminate her employment at the library and her only hope of earning enough money to escape her environment, comes to view the young man in a different light. She allows herself to succumb to his exhortations to delay her intended resignation and to be convinced that his intentions toward her are helpful.
The pair grow closer when Lawyer Royall leases his horse and carriage to Harney so that the young architect, escorted by Charity, has the opportunity to travel through the area in order to sketch historic houses. Royall becomes disenchanted with the arrangement when he realizes that the young couple are spending extensive lengths of time unaccompanied on their travels. Meanwhile, Charity appears to be incrementally released from the cynicism and tendency toward paranoid victimization that have characterized her earlier behavior. She permits herself the luxury of fantasizing about a romance with Harney and is pleased when she realizes that he finds her to be physically appealing.
When the pair visit the decrepit home of inhabitants of the Mountain and Harney views the squalid living conditions of the residents, Charity’s behavior is that of an objective tour guide. Subsequently, she advises him that “‘They’re my people, and I ain’t ashamed of them’” (45); nevertheless, she weeps after this admission. Harney, whose behavior is, at least superficially, that of a gentleman, responds with appropriate assurances. Additionally, he protects her employment at the library and indicates that she is “different,” in a positive way, due to her origins on the Mountain. While his behavior may not be premeditatedly seductive, his apparent egalitarian social stance, as well as his protective instincts, serve to create an emotional vulnerability within Charity.
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