85 pages • 2 hours read
Wilson RawlsSummer of the Monkeys
Wilson RawlsFiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1976A 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 17-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Jay Berry takes off so quickly for Grandpa’s store that Daisy yells after him to keep his money safe. He runs the whole way, holding the money in his pocket for the duration of the trip. Grandpa seems strangely unexcited, but Jay Berry assumes it is his imagination. Grandpa says the Native man who trades horses, “Indian Tom” (238), wants $100 for the roan pony and $75 for the paint pony. Grandpa says Jay Berry must be the one to choose, as a boy’s first pony is “something [he] will always remember” (238). Jay Berry thinks he will take the taller, slenderer, and calmer paint, a pretty female “built for speed” (239).
Then, however, Jay Berry notices an injury to the horse’s back foot, a bloody wound that needs to be treated for infection and flies. Grandpa assures Jay Berry that the wound will heal completely as it does not affect the tendon, but that Jay Berry must walk the pony home and not ride her until she’s recovered. Jay Berry is impatient to finally ride his pony and briefly reconsiders the roan; in the end, though, he cannot leave the paint, who begins to follow him and nuzzle him. Grandpa says oddly that he is not sure why he brought home an injured pony, except that “You know, there’s a reason behind everything […] I feel sorry for anything that’s crippled, don’t you? […] You know, a lot of cripples could be helped if someone would just take the time to help them” (241). When Jay Berry returns to the paddock to try to make up his mind, Rowdy befriends the paint, wagging his tail and looking up at her. The mare is not at all bothered by Rowdy and comes to give Jay Berry a gentle push. He decides to take her.
On his way out, Grandma comes to the door and suggests that Jay Berry allow Daisy to nurse the mare’s leg. Jay Berry realizes that Daisy will bring the pony back to health in no time and his excitement about owning the paint returns. Grandpa tells him he might want to go home and think about it, to be certain that he is not missing something “more important.” Jay Berry wonders what Grandpa is trying to tell him, but he walks the pony the whole way home before he has the revelation.
Approaching the farm, Jay Berry hears Daisy singing in her playhouse and suddenly realizes that his reward money would pay for Daisy’s surgery. He immediately turns around and takes the pony back to Grandpa’s store. He tearfully says goodbye to the paint and has a good cry on a fencepost. Then he goes to see Grandpa, telling him that he will use the money for Daisy instead. Grandma joyfully gives Jay Berry the money she and Grandpa saved for Daisy, and Grandpa offers to take Mama and Daisy to Tahlequah the very next day to catch the train to Oklahoma City. Jay Berry dashes for home again to give the money to Mama and share the plan. Mama goes pale and thanks the Lord when she hears Jay Berry’s decision, and Papa shakes Jay Berry’s hand “for the first time in [his] life” (252).
Chapter 18 Summary
Mama and Daisy are away in Oklahoma City for six weeks. At first Jay Berry thinks it is fun living alone with Papa, but the novelty soon wears off and a sad stillness creeps over the farm and house. Jay Berry’s first foray into cooking is a disaster; he burns the potatoes, and the beans boil over. Grandma makes meals for Papa and Jay Berry after that. The well dries up, the hens don’t lay as well, and the cow does not provide much milk. Papa claims it is the time of year that a farm changes, as fall is arriving, but Jay Berry feels sadness in the atmosphere itself. Even Grandpa is moody when Jay Berry visits. Mama writes once a week; Daisy’s surgery goes well, but now she must learn to walk again, which takes time and patience. Jay Berry thinks often about the paint pony he gave up. He tries and tries without success to reach and touch her in his dreams.
One day, Jay Berry sweeps Daisy’s playhouse for her. Spontaneously, he decides to invoke help from the Old Man of the Mountains, asking him to help bring Mama and Daisy home. The next day, Grandpa drives over in the still peacefulness of evening to deliver a letter. He says Mama and Daisy will be home the next day. Jay Berry and Papa go to Tahlequah to greet the train; Rowdy comes too. The train’s noise, size, power, and whistle scare Rowdy and Jay Berry. Daisy walks well on her own with no crutch, and Jay Berry is astounded to see that her twisted leg now looks exactly like the other. Mama and Daisy are full of gratitude, tears, and hugs, and Daisy kisses Jay Berry and thanks him sincerely: “Jay Berry […] I love you so very much. I won’t ever forget what you did for me” (264).
Chapter 19 Summary
As soon as the wagon arrives at the farm, the family sees that Grandpa is there. Shockingly, Jay Berry sees another visitor—the paint pony in the barn lot. Grandpa tells Jay Berry that the pony is now his. Daisy reveals that she brought a new Hamilton .22 rifle from Oklahoma City for Jay Berry. The narrative credits these developments to miracles and the love and care the family members show one another through their fairy ring wishes; no other explanation is offered for the pony or gun.
He is filled with tears and appreciation. The family members each reveal what they wished for in the fairy ring: Jay Berry, Mama, and Papa wished for Daisy’s healed leg, and Daisy wished for Jay Berry to have his pony and rifle. Grandpa wishes fervently that someday he will find a fairy ring, and the family laughs. Jay Berry and Daisy go to brush and pet the pony, whom Jay Berry names Dolly. Rowdy is jealous of all the attention Dolly gets. Daisy tells Jay Berry that the one thing she wants is to run with him; that for so many years, she watched Rowdy and Jay Berry run the fields and paths, and she yearned to do so as well. They take hands and run through the fields and to the river bottoms.
The last few paragraphs shift in viewpoint; a much older Jay Berry comments that after leaving the Ozarks and traveling extensively, he never found another fairy ring, but if he ever does, he certainly plans to make another wish.
Chapters 17-19 Analysis
In this novel, dramatic irony imbues Jay Berry’s choice of which pony to buy. While the reader is aware of the stakes and the suspense involved, Jay Berry himself is not. He is so focused on getting his prize and falling in love with the pretty paint mare that he cannot open his mind or heart to what Grandpa might be saying about helping others and avoiding selfish choices, how he is really talking about helping Daisy. The reader watches Jay Berry walk the pony home, filled with happiness. The pony shows an immediate attachment to Jay Berry in return, making his abandoning of her especially heartrending. Once he realizes the necessity of his sacrifice, however, Jay Berry never falters. Every family member including Daisy herself praises and supports his choice; there is no doubt in him about its rightness. As the days wear on with no Mama and no Daisy, however, and as brightness around the farm and home fades in their absence, Jay Berry experiences a deep, pervasive sadness that matches the gloom of the approaching change of seasons. It is not exactly regret for his decision that he feels, but without Daisy there, his sacrifice seems empty and unfulfilling. He thinks about the mare, misses her, dreams about her, and finds himself still reaching for and wanting her.
All that changes as soon as Daisy comes home; the sight of her walking unaided and her words and expressions of appreciation fill the emptiness in Jay Berry. As soon as he happened upon the thought of sacrificing the money for his sister’s wellness, he knew on a logical and moral level that it was the right and only thing to do, but it takes the visual certainty and the tactile experience of his sister’s presence to feel spiritual fulfillment in his choice. Jay Berry is rewarded—unexpectedly and inexplicably—for his sacrifice, his strength, and his contribution to the family’s happiness when Grandpa brings him the pony after all. Jay Berry is sincerely grateful, not only for his material blessings but for the opportunity to run hand in hand with his sister; her newfound physical freedom affords him a parallel freedom of spirit that brings a simple and uncomplicated joy.
The novel illustrates how compassion and sacrifice are rewarded. It’s only when Jay Berry feels concern for the monkeys earlier in the novel that he can lead them home and receive his reward. His sacrifice of his pony for Daisy is similarly rewarded; he gets to experience the joy of seeing her healed and he also reunites with his pony and is gifted a .22 rifle. The miraculous, unexplained nature of these gifts suggests the influence of a higher power. This is supported by other examples of mysticism, like the wish-making in the fairy circle and the way that the Old Man of the Mountains smiles upon the family’s house during the storm.
Significantly, Jay Berry decides to help his sister on his own. This makes his transformation read more poignantly. Earlier in the novel, he was concerned with buying a pony; he thought that his family would take care of Daisy’s leg and that she wasn’t that disabled. At the end of the novel, he embraces responsibility, signifying that he has come of age.
Unlock all 85 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
